Destined
by Rizember
Summary: You'd really expect your soulmate to be more compliant and not want to kill you... Humour, romance, supernatural. SasuNaru
1. Birthday wishes and other amenities

**Destined**

by Rizember

**xxx-xxx**

**Chapter 1**

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**Beta'ed by: ****karenyu926... This gal right here's responsible for getting me to update stuff (with inappropriate use of guilt and blackmail)**

**xxx-xxx**

**Summary**: You'd think your soul mate would be more compliant and not want to y'know, kill you. Humour, sasunaru, fantasy

**xxx-xxx**

**Disclaimer:** insert witty disclaimer here.

**xxx-xxx**

The world you know is fake.

Everything you see and hear has been chosen with perfect detail. The birds you heard chirping, the snail you saw on the sidewalk…_everything_.

Even though it's a bitch to have your world controlled, it's a whole lot easier than the alternative.

It's funny how I'm looking down at everything and even though I know it isn't real, there's nothing I wouldn't give to be a part of it and be blissfully ignorant of the other world that coexists

A world of monsters.

Even though we call ourselves monsters, the inhabitants of the other world are not the meaning that humans would call to mind. We aren't bloodthirsty miscreants- well, except for the vampires, but they can't help it.

Funny how that world is actually more civilized than you'd think.

No wanton killings, no unnecessary wars… No stealing candy from babies.

It's my world…the world I belong to and even though for most of my life, I've been aware of it, I've never seen it before. And today, my birthday, its doors will be open to me and I'll be forced to join it and learn to do what monsters everywhere have been doing for aeons.

Living in both worlds.

I looked over the city below me and sighed. I would miss it, no doubt.

"Naruto?"

I turned and smiled.

My parents smiled at me, albeit worriedly.

Looking at them, I figured I already had it all. My dad's looks and my mom's flair for mischief…

"What are you doing up here?"

I looked down again. The Rasengan building was the tallest building in the city and it was my father's gift to me. He should really blame himself for my love of heights.

"Taking one last look."

My mom huffed, "You aren't dying Naruto, just going off to college."

"Same thing."

Dad looked at me and smiled warmly, "Come on, it'll be great. We both went there and look at us now…"

I raised an eyebrow questioningly at him and he childishly stuck his tongue out at me.

I rolled my eyes at my parents and moved towards them. "If it sucks, I'm coming home."

"We'll just send you back."

"Someone will think you don't want me here."

"Fine, you can come with us on our second honeymoon."

"Ew! _Dad_!"

"What? You're the one who wants to stay."

"Fighting dirty isn't necessary."

"It's the only way to fight."

We got in the elevator and my mom adjusted my tie. "Don't worry, love, it'll be fun."

I nodded, feeling like they had to repeat it to convince themselves as well.

Because today is the day I get betrothed.

My seventeenth birthday…

Today, I get marked.

Great.

I toyed with the crystal hanging from my neck and sighed. My grandmother had given it to me this morning as a protective charm.

I could only hope it actually worked.

The party would start in an hour and I'd leave with my family before the clock strikes nine. By ten, I'd have my wife chosen for me and then…well… then I'd be off to college, probably with her.

This has been the way things have gone for years…and werewolves are sticklers for tradition.

I wonder if anything will be done differently because I'm not a pure breed.

No one's exactly sure of the protocol as well, I think my relatives were just relieved that I was born without any extra parts.

My dad's a werewolf which is why today's a big deal for the family, on his side anyway. My mom on the other hand, is a witch and her side is the reason why, as we walked into the hall, people were zooming past us on brooms and floating my cake to its stand.

I smiled. I rarely get to see any of them use their powers except on special occasions, like today.

No humans were invited today.

My dad's wolf pack is known to be one of the only three packs capable of being Phasors, in other words, werewolves that don't need the full moon to transform. Because of that, my wolf family is greatly respected in their world.

Both sides are hoping I'll take after them.

When the butler announced our arrival, dad's side of the family all phased and bowed low. I looked to the side and noticed my dad had phased too. He looked at me and grinned, "Happy birthday, son."

I hugged him, burying my face into his warm golden fur as the room filled with approving howls from the wolves and cheers from the witches and wizards.

When I let go of my dad, my mom hugged me and said, "Have fun."

I nodded and left them as the wolves all returned to their human forms. I spotted the only friends I'd made who weren't human or related to me, and rushed over to them.

Kiba, an animagus- like a Phasor, except that he can turn into various animals; Sakura, a powerful witch; Gaara- a vampire.

We'd all grown up together. Our parents had been friends who'd all met at the university we were all being shipped to tomorrow.

"Happy birthday!" Kiba tackled me to the ground and held out a small box, neatly wrapped, in the palm of his hand.

I gave him a look, "Uh…get off me so I can open it."

He complied and Sakura smiled, "It's from all of us."

Gaara just raised his glass at me in a silent 'cheers'. He seemed to be checking out some girl, one of my cousins. Gaara drinks animal blood which has apparently been made 'human flavoured'. It is for this very reason that I never understand why his breath is always minty fresh. Does he slip a mint in when no one's looking?

When he's deprived of blood, he gets really quiet and turns violent.

The one time this happened, Kiba and I both had trouble holding him down while Sakura put to use some spell to produce fake blood to satiate him for the moment. It had taken awhile and Kiba had gotten seriously injured, leaving me to fight Gaara till Sakura could come up with the blood.

We'd rushed him home and his mom had been frantic while his dad had just said, "It's like history repeating itself."

Apparently, the same had happened when they were younger, when Gaara's dad, my parents and Kiba's mom had been in university and someone thought it would be fun to 'switch the vampire's blood with wine'. The person had nearly died.

I unwrapped the small gift and stared. It was a wrist watch with a blank face and no numbers.

I looked questioningly at them.

"Put it on, genius," Gaara said, sipping at his 'juice'.

I slipped it on and waited...

Nothing.

"Uh…thanks?"

Sakura laughed, "Give it a second. This one's quite stubborn."

"Huh?"

"Naruto," Gaara said. "It's the first time we've been allowed to get you a non-human gift."

"A non-hu…_Oh_."

I looked at the watch again and it seemed to glow bright green before a face started to form on it.

Fully formed, it looked like the face of a grumpy old man.

I blinked. "Er…hello…?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Your owner?"

"Like hell you are! Don't wake a fucking watch up unless you wanna know the time, you fool!"

I looked up at my three best friends. "I love it!"

Kiba nodded, "Who wouldn't love a swearing wristwatch?"

Sakura sighed, "I worry about you guys sometimes."

Gaara, obviously distracted by my cousin in the distance, said, "Uh huh." He handed Sakura his glass and disappeared into the crowd.

"_Vampires_." Kiba snorted. "Horny buggers."

Sakura held onto Gaara's glass, knowing better than to leave it anywhere. "So…are you excited?"

"It's his _birthday_!" Kiba grunted. "Of _course _he is."

"Not about that, you idiot," Sakura huffed. "About his betrothal."

Kiba blinked, "That's _today_?"

Sakura sighed and shook her head, "I'm going to go give Gaara his 'people juice' before he sleeps with your cousin. Maybe when I get back, Kiba will have grown a brain."

"Whatever, bitch."

"It's _witch_."

"Same thing."

I laughed as Sakura rolled her eyes at Kiba and walked away.

"Where's your betrothal?"

"The Alorian."

Kiba gaped.

The Alorian was the most exclusive hotel in the monster world.

"You're having it _there_?"

I nodded. "And since it's a betrothal, only werewolves are allowed. Sorry buddy."

"I'll survive." Kiba sighed then seemed struck by a thought. "Your dad's a werewolf, right?"

"Duh."

"And your mom's a witch."

"And the title of Captain Obvious goes to…"

"How did he marry a witch when you're supposed to pick a mate from a different wolf pack?"

"Werewolves get a mark in the presence of their mates. My dad didn't get marked on the day of his betrothal and so, was left alone."

The packs were disappointed at the time. A catch like a Phasor, especially with my dad being the alpha, was definitely something to have in the family. He'd been an alpha from the age of thirteen, even though he didn't tell me how he became one.

I'm not sure if my parents will be relieved or upset if I don't get marked at the Betrothal Ceremony.

A weird thing about the mark is it looks just like a tattoo…and dad doesn't have one because he fell in love with mom.

And something utterly stupid about the marking and the whole 'this is my soul mate' thing is that when a werewolf meets his soulmate, if its another werewolf, they are filled with an immense killing intent.

Meaning when I meet my soulmate, I would want to kill her…I probably will try to kill her. Heck, I probably would kill her. It's instinct.

The period of betrothal is there for wolves to overcome that hatred and build a friendship…or love.

Because of that, we're all trained from the time we're able to hold a sword to be battle-ready so, that in the event that you meet your soulmate on the street, you don't end up dead.

Gaara has always found this aspect of wolves particularly amusing. That bastard.

Betrothal ceremonies are held as a kind of elimination process. If I don't get marked at the ceremony, it could mean my soulmate either wasn't present or that my soulmate isn't a wolf.

Werewolf packs from all over the world are invited and I suppose it's a big deal to be invited to the Alorian, so I'm pretty sure they'll all be there.

It'll be nice to meet the other packs, see how other wolf families behave-

"Uncle Lin, don't you dare pee on that wall!"

-and pray they don't have to mark every wall they see as their territory.

The party was lots of fun. It was nearing nine and I had to leave…well, me and every other wolf.

Sakura, Kiba and Gaara (who was glaring openly at Sakura) all said goodbye to me. When they thought Sakura wasn't listening, Kiba and Gaara wished me the perfect mate: a hot girl who doesn't say much, has huge boobs and a great ass and sees nothing wrong with sharing me with her hot friends in memorable threesomes. Unfortunately for them, Sakura was within earshot. I smiled warmly as they were pummeled by flying apples and made my way to my father.

Dad kissed mom goodbye and we left and waited by the elevator.

"Don't forget this."

I looked down at the sheathed sword my dad was handing me and laughed, "Your stories were true?"

Dad nodded, "Of course. Look."

I looked around and noticed quite a few of my relatives, both male and female, with swords by their sides. I also noticed that they were the ones who were unmarried and not betrothed yet.

I took the sword and dad helped me attach it to my belt, leaving it hanging by my side.

We turned back to the elevator.

It opened and-

What I saw was sooo not the usual elevator…

Through it, I could see what could only be the other world, Konoha.

A colourful place where the sky was trafficked by witches, gargoyles and dragons and the ground had every other non-airborne creature.

A few wolves were running through the streets and I smiled.

"Welcome to the Konoha Express."

I looked up.

"Grandad!"

My grandfather, my dad's uncle, Jiraiya, hugged me and said, "Happy birthday."

With that, he pushed me into the elevator and I gasped.

It felt like I'd just been dunked into ice cold water.

"Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya looked sheepishly at my father who was by my side, glaring at him.

"What, Minato? We're late."

Dad shook his head and transformed. "Get on my back."

The other wolves changed and Jiraiya, I noticed, was the only white wolf there, him and my dad being unique in that my father was the only wolf with golden fur.

I hurriedly got onto my father and held on tightly as he turned and ran.

The streets were a blur as we moved effortlessly on the cobblestone paths. With the wind in my face, I could barely see the brightly lit massive building in the distance.

The Alorian.

The wolves that had been ahead of us sped up and reached the hotel hastily, getting in before us. Protocol apparently had to be followed. We were to be the last pack there, arriving exactly at nine.

Dad halted at the doors, stepping aside to let the other wolves rush in, changing into their human forms only once inside the doors.

I got off his back shakily and before I could fall, he'd changed back and held me up.

"You okay?"

I nodded, "Whoa…can we do that again?"

He laughed and held me to his side.

Everyone was inside and the only ones remaining were me and him…and granddad, who was apparently trying to chat up the woman at the door.

She hissed at him and he came back to us, dejected.

Dad sighed, "Come on, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya nodded and led the way inside. The receptionist, eyeing Jiraiya wearily, lead us through to two massive twin oak doors that opened slowly as we approached.

She smiled warmly at me, "Happy birthday, Naruto."

I smiled back at her and she blushed lightly.

Jiraiya wiped a tear from his eye, "He has my charm."

Dad snorted, "Right."

We were now in full view of the hall…and everyone.

The people all moved, as if synchronized, and the Phasors transformed, leaving the rest in their human forms and they all bowed. From the numbers, I could tell that both other Phasor packs were present.

I blushed a little, not being used to all this attention.

Beside me, my dad and Jiraiya transformed and edged away from me before turning to face me and bowing.

I felt weird but did what was expected of me and bowed, first to my father, then to Jiraiya and then to the rest of the hall.

Everyone changed back as I stood up straight. I smiled as music started to play and everyone went back to whatever they'd been doing before my arrival.

The Alorian's reception hall was huge…and would be perfect for whatever would happen tonight. Sometimes, other wolves found their mates at these ceremonies and fights would break out between them. That was the reason a large but confined meeting place was necessary.

**(I am a spy page break. I saw you picking your nose)**

Sasuke straightened himself out and sat back down.

He found Betrothals amusing, especially the fights that were common at them.

His own betrothal ceremony the year before had seen almost four other betrothals happening. He hadn't found a mate there and though he hid it well, he'd been _thrilled_. He was the alpha of the pack and now he didn't need to have some simpering female by his side. Besides, he was sure if he'd been marked that night, he'd have killed her. It was extremely rare that soul mates actually managed to kill each other but it wasn't exactly unheard of…and he wouldn't be held responsible. Hell, his pack would even respect him more for being able to kill his mate.

He lightly touched the sword by his side and smiled slightly. He carried it as a formality. He didn't expect to find a mate but as his brother told him in good humour, "Best be prepared so you're prepared to kill your mate…just in case."

Sasuke looked across the distance at the three generations of alphas of the Namikaze Phasor pack. They were the most powerful pack in the world, followed closely by his own, the Uchihas.

The old man, Jiraiya, was a known pervert and had announced his nephew as alpha when Minato was just thirteen. Minato must have proved his capabilities quite well for him to have had no opposition.

The next alpha, Naruto, had his back to the Uchiha, was speaking with the alpha of a non-phasing pack and showing respect by bowing before shaking the man's hand.

Sasuke found that surprising. He was powerful and didn't show respect where it wasn't due.

"Give your brain a night off, little brother."

Sasuke shot his older brother a glare, "Not all of us have an off switch."

Itachi smiled, "You should buy one. They're going at half price now."

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

Itachi shook his head and sipped at his wine.

Sasuke turned back to Itachi. "I don't recognize Namikaze's kid."

Itachi nodded, "He wasn't present at your betrothal last year and before then, he was too young to attend Konoha events."

"He lives in the human world?"

"Not for long," Itachi plopped an olive into his mouth. "He'll be attending Konoha University this semester."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Why didn't he attend my betrothal?"

Itachi's eyes shone with amusement, "It wasn't out of disrespect. He was in hospital."

"A fight?"

Itachi nodded.

"Tch. Weakling."

"Actually," Itachi smirked. "It was a fight with a vampire."

"He lost so it doesn't matter."

Itachi laughed. "He didn't lose. The vampire is his friend and he apparently wasn't trying to kill him."

Sasuke couldn't hide the impressed look that snuck onto his face. Even werewolves knew better than to take on a blood-thirsty vampire…better to attack them when they'd had their share of blood and were fairly reasonable. And for a wolf who wasn't able to transform yet…

"He made friends with a vampire?"

"They are family friends."

Sasuke shrugged. "Where is his mother?"

Itachi chuckled, "Look, I may find gathering information in my free time particularly relaxing but I don't exactly have all the dirt on them."

Sasuke snorted. "Please."

"Okay, okay…his mother's a witch."

"He's a half-breed?"

"Although an unorthodox one. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is the only half-breed werewolf known to the monster world that is something other than one part _human _and one part wolf."

Sasuke looked at the blonde again. Maybe he was worthy of being his pack's next alpha.

"Threatened?" Itachi teased.

"As if," Sasuke snorted. "My pack has nothing to do with him and in case you forgot, I'm already alpha."

Itachi sighed, "It's not always about power, Sasuke."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, "Duh. It's also about money."

"You're a lost cause."

Sasuke ignored Itachi and said, "Do we have to go greet him, too?"

Itachi nodded, "Of course. Hasn't he earned your respect?"

"Did he defeat the vampire?"

"With major injuries and long enough time for his other friend to get the vampire some blood."

"He hasn't earned enough respect for a lifetime of bows but maybe enough for one."

Itachi smiled and stood when Sasuke did, making their way across the hall to the Namikaze alphas.

"Look, mom and dad are already talking to them."

Sasuke sighed and continued walking.

He was almost there when Naruto turned and their eyes met.

"Do you think they'd serve me both chicken and fish?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke didn't respond.

His eyes were locked on the clear blue ones that had narrowed.

The people near them all seemed to sense something and moved out of the way.

Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other with no distractions.

When Sasuke reached for his sword, Itachi blinked, "Whoa Sasuke, what-" He noticed Naruto's hand on his sword and Itachi sighed, finally understanding the situation stepping back and grabbing a martini from a passing waitress.

"This should be good."

**(I am an alcoholic page break. Shaken not stirred.)**

I have no idea what the hell is happening.

One minute I'm smiling politely at a joke Fugaku Uchiha was making and the next, I look up and…well…

Onyx eyes were looking back at me and I was filled with the greatest need to rip them out.

"Well…this is unexpected," I heard dad say.

"We certainly didn't see this coming," Jiraiya added.

"Best to step away, lest we get killed in the crossfire," Fugaku said calmly. "We can watch from over there."

I unsheathed my sword and before I could even blink, the raven's sword was being blocked by my own. I had no idea I could move that fast… I pushed him off and stepped back, prepared to attack. He charged at me and I struck back.

I wanted desperately to kill him and even as I thought that, I knew that I didn't have to. There were sparks flying as our swords clashed and we stepped back only to charge at one another again.

A bright idea occurred to me and as he charged again, I blocked and reached under his arm…and tickled him. He hadn't expected that. It was hardly a battle tactic but Jiraiya had always taught me to do the unexpected so…

The raven stared at me in surprise as I grabbed his sword and threw it into the nearby pillar. As I moved forward, he dropped himself and grabbed the hilt of my sword, spinning in the air and loosening it from my grip before embedding it in the pillar next to his.

I jumped away from him, ready to kick his ass with or without a weapon.

We rushed toward each other and even as we fought, it seemed like some kind of dance. He blocked every hit and I did the same. It was like we were evenly matched.

Then suddenly, his footing seemed off and I landed a punch. At the exact same time that he did…and-

Everything went black.

**(I am an ugly page break. I'll never get married.)**

Itachi looked at the two boys on the floor who'd just knocked each other out and chuckled. He placed his glass on a nearby table and walked up to them. Minato and Jiraiya checked on the boys and announced that they were fine, just unconscious.

Cheering filled the hall as Itachi carried Sasuke and Minato carried Naruto, and placed them on a large table, side by side.

Itachi asked Minato to step aside and with glowing fingers, touched the boys heads.

The hall was silent as he worked.

Minutes later, he smiled and stepped aside.

Naruto and Sasuke groaned and opened their eyes. Slowly, they sat up.

They turned, looked at each other, and leaped off the table, glaring at each other from either side.

Minato and Fugaku stepped forward.

"Boys?" Fugaku said, smiling happily.

They looked over at him.

"You are now betrothed," Minato finished.

Sasuke flinched, as if in pain, and grabbed his neck while Naruto doubled over clutching his stomach.

Itachi pulled away Sasuke's hand from the base of his neck to reveal a tattoo that looked like three spinning balls in a circle while Jiraiya untucked Naruto's shirt and pulled it up, showing a swirling tattoo around his navel.

The hall was filled with cheers again, louder than before but which somehow didn't manage to drown at the twin cries of, "HELL NO!"

They'd been marked.

**xxx-xxx**

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	2. I'll kill you and other pleasantries

**Destined**

by Rizember

**xxx-xxx**

**Chapter 2**

**xxx-xxx**

**Beta'ed by: **karenyu926

**xxx-xxx**

**Summary**: You'd really expect your soulmate to be more compliant and not want to y'know, kill you. Humour, sasunaru, fantasy

**xxx-xxx**

**Disclaimer:** insert witty disclaimer here.

**xxx-xxx**

With the pain drilling a hole through my stomach, I doubled over and didn't even smack my granddad's hand away when he practically tore my shirt off to reveal my mark to the werewolves. Hell, did he assume this was the perfect time to get me started on the porn career he'd envisioned for me? What, he couldn't wait for my mark to set in?

Cause I knew that was what this was.

Nothing had ever hurt this much in my life and all the pain everyone talked about when describing their own markings was nothing compared to the real thing. If men could give birth out their asses, the pain would probably be about quarter what I was feeling now. No kidding.

And then, right at the moment I figured I'd cry, pass out and welcome death like a man, it went away.

I stood, clutching my stomach carefully, as if afraid the pain was just messing with me and would surprise me again at any given moment. Jiraiya's hand was on my shoulder, a light restraint as I looked toward the cause of all this.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Apparently, he and I had just gone through the same thing as he was holding the spot behind his neck lightly but didn't seem to be in any pain anymore.

What a shame.

I needed to correct that.

I looked into the darkest eyes I'd ever seen and instantly knew that this boy was the bane of my existence. The sooner death claimed him, the sooner I would stop feeling so damn angry.

My sword was still stuck in the wall but Jiraiya's was just within my reach.

"The first five minutes and they're both still alive and conscious…well, except for those two minutes when they knocked each other out… Still, I'm impressed."

I turned to face the man who'd spoken and noticed he bore a slight resemblance to Sasuke. Long black hair, red eyes that held the world in general disregard and amusement…a martini in one hand as the other hand served the purpose of restraining Sasuke, barely.

He smiled warmly at me. "Uchiha Itachi. A pleasure to meet you."

I nodded and without thinking, stepped back just in time for Itachi's sword to fly past me and lodge itself in the wall with the other two swords.

Everyone stared. I'm not sure whose reflexes they were more impressed by. Sasuke had just managed to free himself, grab his brother's sword and attempt to kill me…all without anyone noticing. But then again, even with this, I'd still moved out of the way with a quiet calm and they seemed pretty amazed my head was still attached to the rest of me- which really, is how I prefer it.

Itachi sighed and put his glass down before lifting Sasuke, who let himself be carried quietly out of the hall. I wondered why that was until it dawned on me that his brother must have knocked him out. Heh.

Murmurs suddenly broke out and I turned to Jiraiya and my father.

"Well done."

I glared. "What the hell is going on?"

"You've just been marked and are now officially betrothed," Jiraiya said slowly, winking at a passing waitress.

I blinked, "I'm sorry. Did you not just see the guy who was just here?"

"We did."

"And what did you see?"

"He's pretty cute."

I gaped. "Grandad…He is a guy."

"Yes, he is."

I sighed and suddenly felt weak. My legs turned to jelly but before I could properly make contact with the ground and kiss the beautiful carpeting, I was in my father's arms, being carried out of the hall. Fugaku and Jiraiya followed closely after and I saw Itachi waiting by the elevator, his brother now asleep in his arms.

Sleep.

It seemed like a pretty good idea.

I just needed to close my eyes for a short while and then…then I'd take care of the situation.

Just a short nap…

(I am a brownie page break. Do you wanna get high?)

Minato and Fugaku sighed as they watched their sons. They were travelling in the elevator wondering how they were going to let their sons go through with the whole thing.

But it wasn't really their decision to make.

"I've just booked two rooms, opposite each other." Itachi announced lightly. "They have to stay close."

Jiraiya yawned and said, "This has turned out to be quite the evening. Barely here ten minutes and already the boy gets marked," He smiled fondly at Naruto. "He's really something."

The others smiled and got off at the top floor which housed the pent house suites.

"They aren't going to like it," Itachi stated.

"Yes well, that's how all betrothals go," Fugaku replied.

Minato and Jiraiya were satisfied to just look amused with the whole situation.

Each pair carried their load into the opposite penthouse suites and locked the doors after them.

They had a lot to do.

Minato walked past the lounge and into the bedroom where he placed Naruto gently on the bed.

"What do we do now?" Jiraiya sighed. "All my advice on overcoming betrothal hatred involved giving the girl a good shag and banging the hate out of her."

Minato rubbed his forehead as he stated, "Do not ever give my son relationship advice."

"But-"

"Ever."

Jiraiya huffed, grumbling about how he was only helping.

"Come on, let's go."

Minato followed Jiraiya out the door and locked the bedroom after him.

Left all by himself, Naruto groaned softly.

He opened his eyes and immediately regretted the tiresome act. He was exhausted and felt restless and irritated, like when trying to swat a mosquito that just won't go away.

He sat up in the dimly lit room and noticed that he was on a bed. Gathering what was left of his wits, he figured that he was still at the Alorian and had just been marked… to another male.

Groaning, he lay back down.

Then he felt it. A sudden spike of energy… He looked across the room, toward the door and just knew he was there.

Sasuke.

Naruto didn't know exactly how this thing worked but had been taught enough to understand what was going on.

Whenever a wolf got marked, their soul mate was marked along with them. The shared pain and branding of the seals was a bond. The tattoos that appeared were their seal, their mark… a permanent reminder that your souls were tied together…

The mark varied according to the person's personality…and their pack.

Naruto felt the same energy pulse and he growled.

As much as wolves had scents and marks to recognize packs and mates, they also had chakra.

Chakra was, in the simplest of explanations, an extension of energy coursing through one's body. It could be felt and sensed and if a person was particularly strong, it could be seen.

Very few monsters possessed chakra as it was an expression of power. Naruto knew wolves, vampires and witches to have it and knew that that was one of the reasons they were held with great respect in the world of Konoha.

There was even the rare case reported, of a human showing some form of chakra but that seemed quite far fetched.

If chakra possession was rare, then its materialization was a miracle in itself. Itachi Uchiha, prodigy of the Uchiha clan and wonder of the monster world, was one of the greatest doctors in Konoha. The fact that he could use his chakra on a whim and even at the slightest provocation had many striving to be on his good side. Naruto had heard his name spoken a few times at family-only get togethers.

The reason people feared chakra so much was because, in the wrong hands, it could be used as a weapon. History had taught them that those with it, if they were inclined to, could kill off half of their world without a second thought. It was better to be on the half that would still be breathing.

Naruto lifted up his disheveled shirt and stared at the swirly mark around his belly button.

His mother had once told him she could sense his chakra. He'd thought she was baiting him at the time because he had just been injured by Gaara in the scariest fight of his life.

Now that he could feel what he hoped was just adrenaline, Naruto dreaded the truth that was slowly sinking in. He let his shirt fall back into place and sighed loudly.

He was betrothed.

If he couldn't believe the mark, then at least he had to believe the chakra he was sensing. He'd never been able to feel it before but figured that unless this was the newest form of constipation, he could definitely feel Sasuke out there.

As he glared at the wall, he knew that somewhere across it, Sasuke could sense him too and was throwing the same measure of killing intent toward him.

He wanted to tear through the wall and get to the boy and make him beg for mercy… before cleanly killing him and making all the hate go away. It was really for the good of the world that he finished off the raven.

His mind made a decision on the trivial matter, Naruto got up and walked to the door, grabbing the lamp on the shelf as his weapon of choice.

Hand on the door, filled with determination only a psychotic killer could possess, he turned the handle and-

Nothing.

Naruto stared and laughed. Loudly.

"No way..."

The door was thrown open and Naruto stepped back just in time.

"Sorry, son, didn't see you there."

Naruto glared at his father and tried to get past him.

"Slow down slugger. Where do you think you're going?"

Naruto tried to wriggle out of Minato's grip but noted that his struggle was in vain.

"Dad! I have to kill him!"

Minato chuckled, "Just like when you had to have that video game?"

"What video game? There are so many. Besides, this isn't something unimportant like some child's game-"

"You wanted that game last week."

"-this is to do with the demise of that bastard."

"How do you know he's a bastard? He seemed nice enough and his parents were married before he was born…" Jiraiya said, walking into the room. "Hey, what are you doing with that lamp?"

Naruto glanced at the lamp that was still firmly in his grip. "I wanted to go see if Sasuke needed some light."

"Up his ass?"

"Maybe."

The older blonde smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair before letting him go but still blocking his way out. "Look Naruto, there's no way out of this."

"There is! If you'd just let me-"

"No, Naruto, you know the drill. If you don't kill your partner in the first five minutes, we can't let you."

"ARGH! THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING!"

"Oh no, he's getting hysterical," Jiraiya whispered.

"HYSTERICAL? I'M NOT HYSTERICAL!"

Jiraiya backed away, "Obviously, he's way past hysterical."

Naruto growled, stepping forward, "You have no idea. Let me out of this room right now."

Minato chuckled, "See, you'd be more scary if you could phase, but until then, you're just too cute."

"Dad!"

"Look son, I want to say I know how you feel but I'd be lying."

"You're a great help dad."

"I know."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I know."

"I hate you."

"I know."

"Dad!"

"I kno- sorry, what?"

"Are you even listening?"

"No."

Frustrated, Naruto groaned and moved back to sit heavily on the bed. "Is this even allowed? We're both guys!"

Minato shrugged, "It's rare but not unheard of. It's not like Konoha doesn't have its fair share of gay monsters."

"I. Am. NOT. Gay."

The older blonde chuckled lightly. "No one said you were…"

"Oh really?" Naruto snorted. "Cause that was the impression I got when all those people downstairs cheered my impending marriage to another malewerewolf."

"He's a Phasor , dear."

"I don't care if he's a DUCK! My issue is with the 'he' part!"

Jiraiya grinned. "A duck… kinky. Anyway, I never thought you were this homophobic."

Drained, Naruto lay down. "I'm not. But I will not magically turn gay. I'm going to kill him so my life can go back to normal."

Jiraiya nodded sagely, "Well…violence has always solved my problems."

Minato sighed, shooting Jiraiya a glare. "Okay, I usually wouldn't encourage murder but I suppose if he's going to be trying to kill you too, I should at least give you permission to retaliate in kind. And really, I've grown attached to you. I mean, you're almost like a son to me-"

"Almost?"

"You know what I mean," Minato grinned and walked to the door. "I need you alive so…don't die."

That was when Naruto saw it. With all his father's cheery banter, wisecracks and general lack of seriousness, he'd almost missed it, but it was there.

Worry, pride… fear.

His father wanted him to do this on his own but this was the first time he'd ever needed to do something by himself.

Minato wasn't used to that.

It was killing him.

"Okay, before I give you my blessing to go on a rampage and murder someone," Minato smiled sadly. "Can I get one last hug from the innocent you?"

Naruto grinned as dropped the lamp and fall to the bed. He rushed forward and hugged his father.

"Thanks dad."

Minato continued to hold his son before sighing tiredly and pressing his fingers to Naruto's neck. As the boy slumped in his arms, Jiraiya smirked.

"That boy is too trusting for his own good."

"He's supposed to trust me," Minato pouted, carrying Naruto's limp body into the lounge where the preparations were sitting. "I'm his father."

"Yeah, yeah…and you just lied to him and knocked him out."

"As opposed to letting him kill his mate?"

Jiraiya shrugged and walked to the door that led into the hall. "I'll get the other munchkin."

Minato nodded as he placed Naruto in a chair and pointed at the rope nearby. The rope sprung up and slowly wound its way around Naruto, tying him tightly to the chair. Apart from his neck and head, he was bound completely. Minato tilted the head rest of the special chair back a bit so his son would be more comfortable.

He looked down at his handiwork and smiled. The chair opposite Naruto was a good three feet away and had rope lying next to it as well.

"Wolves and their protocol…"

(I am a Goldilocks page break. I break into people's houses and eat their porridge.)

If Minato had thought Naruto wasn't being cooperative, then Sasuke was being downright impossible.

Apparently he'd come to and was intent on murdering the young blonde because when Minato and Jiraiya entered the room, both Fugaku and Itachi were sitting on the younger Uchiha's back.

"Get off me."

Itachi even had a daiquiri in his hand while Fugaku seemed to be reading the sports page of a magazine. They both looked pretty relaxed.

Sasuke was trying his best to thrash about but wasn't quite managing it if the present situation was anything to go by.

"Dammit, just let me go kill him!"

Fugaku smiled up at Minato. "Kids…"

Minato nodded. "Indeed. One day they're trying to make their little friends eat playdough and the next they're trying to murder their soul mates… They grow up so fast."

Jiraiya looked around the room. "You must be so proud."

Itachi chuckled. "Everyday, Sasuke gives me a reason to never have kids."

Minato chuckled. "You're not old. There's still time to get betrothed."

Itachi smirked, "Nah. Unlike Sasuke, I'd kill my mate before she can even lay her eyes on me."

"And you wonder why people think you're a bloodthirsty beast."

Minato turned toward the source of the voice and found himself staring at a masked man with spiky gray hair standing at the door.

"You're confusing us with vampires, Kakashi."

Kakashi shrugged. "Well…shall we get started?"

Sasuke froze when he saw Itachi's hand in front of his face, a bright green light on his fingertips. "Sasuke, if you struggle, you might end up brain dead."

Sasuke was rather attached to his functioning brain and decided to stay still even as Itachi pressed his fingers to Sasuke's forehead. As the younger raven passed out, Fugaku and Itachi got neatly up off his back, dusting themselves off.

Kakashi picked Sasuke up and carried him across the wide hallway into the other suite where he found Naruto looking peaceful and tied up.

Kakashi placed Sasuke in the chair opposite Naruto so they were facing each other and pointed at the rope like Minato had done. As it coiled around Sasuke, he stepped back and accepted the brandy Itachi offered him.

"You know," Kakashi stated. "They aren't going to like this."

Fugaku shrugged, "Yes well, they're both alphas and we can't have them killing each other off."

"I thought all werewolves were equal…"

"Some are more equal than others," Itachi supplied.

(I am a boogieman page break. I'm made of boogers.)

I came to with slow deliberation, determined to maybe put my dad in a coma once Sasuke's heart had stopped beating.

Some birthday this was turning out to be…

I had lost count of the number of times I'd passed out and was just glad my friends weren't around to point and laugh about how I was like a fainting damsel in distress.

When I opened my eyes, I quickly took in the situation and shut them again because I was obviously still asleep. There was no way I was actually tied to a chair with Sasuke in the same position a few feet across from me…and there was no way my dad and grandfather were watching us with amused expressions on their faces.

No.

This wasn't happening.

I tried to swear loudly but found that my mouth had been stuffed with what felt like a giant wad of cotton-wool.

Across me, Sasuke groaned.

"Good, you're both awake."

Taking small pride in the fact that I'd come to sooner than Sasuke, my glare lacked a certain 'oomph' as I shot it at Itachi and Sasuke's dad, who I hadn't noticed earlier during my little panic attack.

"We'll start in a minute."

I looked up at the man I'd only ever seen twice before in my life.

Kakashi Hatake.

I had no idea what creature he was but he must have been a pretty dangerous one for him to be known the world over…and not just in Konoha, but in the human world as well. He and my grandfather Jiraiya were both household names back in the human world and seemed to be pretty big here as well.

"I need you both to listen carefully," Kakashi said, standing in front of me, blocking my view of Sasuke.

"You're the future of your packs and we can't have you killing each other. We know this process is optional and most prefer to learn to love their mates the old fashioned way of somehow not killing them with will-power and empathy and shit," he cleared his throat. "But in the real world, that would take too long and really, with warriors such as yourselves, you'd probably both kill each other if we let you go right now."

My eyes narrowed at him. What the hell was he getting at?

"I'm going to have to seal your hatred away."

Oh shit.

No…no, no, no…

I started to struggle and could hear Sasuke doing the same.

Any form of sealing was dangerous and highly painful, which explained why the betrothal marks we'd gotten had hurt so much.

"Can you sense each other yet?"

I froze.

What did that have to do with anything?

Kakashi sighed, "I'll take that as a yes. So…I'm sorry but this'll hurt... a lot."

Kakashi's raised his hand and it blazed blue as my eyes widened.

"Wait, do they have to be conscious?" I heard Itachi ask.

Kakashi nodded, "Yep. If they're unconscious while it happens, it's possible they could die."

"As opposed to them dying while they're conscious?"

"Exactly."

Itachi sighed and raised his own hand, stepping closer to Sasuke as his hand blazed green.

Kakashi walked closer to me and I tried to move.

No luck.

"On the count of three…"

Jiraiya pulled off my shirt and Fugaku removed Sasuke's.

"Three!"

Kakashi plunged his hand towards my stomach and for a few seconds, I felt nothing. Then the pain came.

In strong powerful waves.

I screamed out in agony, barely realizing that my screams were muffled by the wool. I felt my stomach flare up. I was burning from the inside and this time, it wasn't going away. My cries seemed to be louder and I in my excruciating pain, I noticed that Sasuke was screaming, too...even if I couldn't really hear him with all the blood pounding in my ears.

The blue chakra was invading my body, ripping at me from every angle and I just…I just wanted it to stop.

I shut my eyes when I felt tears form and tried to scream again as Kakashi seemed to send more of his chakra through my mark.

I wanted to die. I wanted everything to just end…just go away. I couldn't even bite my tongue and bleed to death, everything had obviously been well thought out.

I didn't even have the pleasure of falling unconscious again and I so desperately needed it.

By now, my throat was dry and itching and my mouth was moving in a silent cry, pleading with Kakashi to stop.

But he didn't stop.

It felt like he wouldn't ever stop.

Then, slowly, I felt his hand retreat but the pain didn't go with it.

I was so sure I was going to die and I welcomed it. Hell, I was willing to become death's apprentice if the pain would just stop.

And it did.

My eyes remained shut as my brain sent messages to every part of my body, running a check to see if they were still attached and willing to function.

"Naruto?"

Tears slid from my eyes when I heard my father's voice. It sounded faint and worried.

But really, how worried could he be? I felt like my soul had went through hell, gotten the shit beaten out of it and even had its dick cut off as an extra torture measure. The ultimate suffering.

And he had just watched.

I opened my eyes and felt cold. My skin felt frozen but as I looked at everyone around me, I felt nothing. No anger, no hatred…

Kakashi and Itachi stepped away from us and I finally got a good look at Sasuke.

Pale skin, black hair that seemed to look blue with every breath he laboriously took… He opened his eyes and met mine.

He was good looking, I grudgingly admitted. But while people may see his lean swimmer's torso and beautifully carved face, all I appreciated, really, were his eyes.

The darkness in them appealed to me in much the same way that the halo game did, in the sense that they seemed interesting…

I sensed something and came to the realization that it was his chakra. I could still sense him, more so now that he was near me.

But I didn't hate him.

Looking at him now, I felt…

Nothing.

"Are you guys okay?" Kakashi asked lightly, like the bastard hadn't just tortured us.

I nodded slowly, running a quick pain check and noting that yes indeed, nothing else was in pain.

Sasuke nodded as well, his eyes on me.

"Happy now, Namikaze?"

What the hell? I glared at him. "Listen here you arrogant twat," I growled. "I do not want to be here. I am not your mate and if you don't mind, you're in my personal space. Move."

Sasuke stared at me in amusement and chuckled, "Look, I didn't want you as my mate. You were chosen for me."

"By who, you retard? No one was there handing out lottery tickets for your hand! I am not the lucky winner of some bogus TV show and I sure as hell do not appreciate this stupid assumption that just cause I want to kill you without a reason, I must be betrothed to you!"

"Assumption?"

I breathed deeply, blazing with barely restrained fury. "Yes, assumption. It's a free country and I have every right to hate and try to murder whomever I please. The fact that I saw you and flew into a sadistic, bloodthirsty rage was purely coincidental. I'm not your mate."

"Anything else?"

"I'm a guy."

"Oh? I hadn't noticed. You were PMSing so well."

"I hate you."

"Yeah, that's already been established and you may not have noticed but I don't particularly care."

I looked up slowly before a sly, sadistic smile spread slowly across my face. "You don't care?"

Sasuke sighed. "No idiot, I don't."

"Really? What are you feeling then?"

Sasuke glanced at me, curious at to what I was trying to pull.

"I feel nothing."

"You feel nothing?" I smiled slowly, my words dripping with honey.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Nothing."

(I am a wolf page break. I huff and I puff.)

The blue eyes seemed to haze over with something Sasuke couldn't quite place. He gasped when he felt Naruto's chakra grow.

"You didn't feel that?"

Sasuke snorted.

Itachi cleared his throat and Naruto and Sasuke seemed to remember that they weren't alone.

"So," Jiraiya said pleasantly, "While you two will still want to kill each other later on, the seals we've just added will see to it that you can't…or that if you try, you both end up writhing in the agony you felt just minutes ago."

Both boys paled. They never wanted to go through that kind of pain again.

"Seriously…I hate you guys."

Naruto smiled at Sasuke's words.

Suddenly, they heard loud screaming and shouting. Kakashi rushed to the window and looked out.

Minato caught Kakashi's look and said, "I'll be right back."

He left the suite.

"What's happening?"

Kakashi chuckled as Itachi, Jiraiya and Fugaku joined him at the window.

They looked out and laughed.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

Minato came back into the room, rubbing his forehead like he was getting a headache.

"What's happened?"

"Your mother and her family invited themselves to the Alorian."

Naruto managed a faint smile. "Oh?"

"Yes, the wolves are still in the hall, trying to act civil."

Minato stepped forward and pointed at both ropes, which raised themselves up and unwound themselves from around the two boys.

"Come on," Minato smiled, tossing Naruto a clean shirt. "Your mother's waiting."

Naruto nodded and made his way into the hall where his mother spotted him immediately, rushing up to greet him.

"Naruto!"

Naruto sighed and started explaining everything, leaving out the Kakashi-nearly-killing-him bit.

Kushina then cleared her throat, "Really? Your mate's a boy?"

Naruto scowled at his mother, "Go ahead and laugh."

With permission, Kushina laughed loud and long, pulling Naruto into a tight hug. "You know, when you were younger, you used to love wearing my make-up."

"Mom, I'm not gay."

Kushina nodded indulgently, "Of course not son. So…when do I get to meet your boyfriend?"

Naruto stomped away as Minato joined them and coaxed his wife into having a dance with him.

Naruto spotted his friends out of the crowd and walked over to them.

"Hey guys."

They smiled, "Hey."

"What happened to you?" Kiba asked, poking Naruto. "You look like shit."

Naruto shook his head. "I'll explain later."

"Excuse me."

Naruto groaned when he saw Itachi standing next to him, with Sasuke right behind him, in a different shirt.

"What? You wanna finish the job?"

Itachi chuckled. "No, it's just…well, I've been graced with the honour of explaining what happens next to you two. Please follow me."

Unsurely, Naruto nodded slowly and followed Itachi out into the garden, with Sasuke walking behind him.

They sat at a table with lawn chairs and Itachi cleared his throat.

"Whiskey?"

Both boys glared and he smiled. "Never mind."

"Get on with it, Itachi."

Itachi nodded. "Okay… I'm sure you both know the worst has passed and now all that remains is Naruto's Turning-"

"Whoa, what?"

The older raven looked at Naruto. "Your Turning."

Naruto shook his head. "Hell no. I'm an alpha. He can't Turn me!"

Itachi shook his head sadly. "Well…someone has to be Turned…"

Naruto sighed as he turned his gaze toward Sasuke.

Turning was one of the werewolf rituals he'd been told about.

He wasn't sure about all the details but the main point was that one werewolf, usually the female, after being betrothed, join the male's family in a ceremony that showed everyone that she was now part of the new pack.

"I can't leave my pack," Naruto stated flatly. "I'm alpha."

Sasuke shrugged. "And I'm alpha too. I can't leave my pack."

"We seem to be at an impasse." Itachi said thoughtfully. "The only time to do this would be tomorrow at dawn…and seeing as you're both alphas, may I suggest something?"

The boys shrugged.

"Why don't you both turn. That way, the packs would be joined together as one."

"That wouldn't work," Naruto stated. "We can't have two alphas."

Itachi smiled, "Yes, well…I wasn't thinking we actually make us one big happy family, I was thinking it would be the diplomatic answer to your problem. I see no reason why two alphas can't be together and still run their own packs."

"Because it would be impossible."

Itachi shook his head, "I would suggest you figure that out later. No one's leaving and everyone has already been informed of the Turning ceremony in the morning. My offer's your only way out and besides, you have the rest of your lives to figure something out."

Naruto nodded slowly, figuring Itachi was probably right.

They would have to Turn each other…to both become part of the other's pack.

It sounded utterly retarded but it just might work.

"Why do we have to do this tomorrow?"

Itachi shrugged. "I assumed you were both going away to Konoha university tomorrow so it would be in your best interests to get it over with."

"You're going to KU?" Naruto asked Sasuke, surprised.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes."

"As a first year?"

"Second."

Naruto smirked. "At least we won't have to see each other then."

"That works out fine."

Itachi looked between the two boys whose hatred was bubbling under but unable to surface just yet because of the fresh seal.

He hid his chuckle with a light cough. It was just a matter of hours before the killing intent came back and they noticed that the seal wasn't for their hatred but for their ability to kill each other.

They had no idea what they were in for.

(I am a fan page break. I blow things.)

Naruto was having a great time. Sakura had joined in the witches' broom races through the hall and Kiba had transformed into a squirrel and was moving under tables, looking up women's skirts. Gaara was busy hitting on a waitress.

Sometime around midnight, Naruto was sent up to bed to get some rest and he spotted Sasuke going up the stairs as well. He sighed.

Sunrise wasn't that far off.

As he walked up the stairs, walking slowly so as to not catch up with Sasuke, he heard the PA system blare up and heard Itachi announce that the Turning would be done at dawn to allow the betrothed to get to school knowing they were part of one big happy family.

Naruto chuckled as he got into the elevator after the one Sasuke had just disappeared into.

He wished time would stay still…and that dawn would never come.


	3. postbirthday blues and other colours

**Destined**

by Rizember

**Summary: **Life was supposed to be easier once his mate was chosen but why the hell did it have to be _him_? SasuNaru. Humour, Romance, Supernatural

**To be ****Beta'ed by: **Karen Yu

**Warning****s**: swearing, explanations...blah...

**Chapter 3: Post-birthday blues****...and other colours**

**Disclaimer: **yadee, yadaa...I own nadaa...

_**Previously: **__As he walked up the stairs, walking slowly so as to not catch up with Sasuke, he heard the PA system blare up and heard Itachi announce that the Turning would be done before dawn to allow the betrothed to get to school knowing they were part of one big happy family._

_Naruto chuckled as he got into the elevator after the one Sasuke had just disappeared into._

_Somehow, he wished time would stay still…and that dawn would never come._

Either Turning is an interesting paradox or wolves are a bunch of sadistic bastards.

I'm thinking both.

It was four in the morning and I was out in the freezing cold in a huge sweater with a puppy pattern on it...which shows that my mom got to me before I could properly sneak out of the hotel. She also wrapped me up in a scarf and a large red poof-ball hat.

With what I was wearing, it was completely understandable that I was looking everywhere but at the two guys standing in front of me. But even if I didn't look, I could still feel the hum of Sasuke's chakra, grating against me like an invisible cheese grater. And even though I enjoy cheese, I can't imagine that cheese enjoys me.

We were on the Alorian grounds' pavilion which is large enough to fit **all **of Konoha's wolves. Funny thing is, only nine people were present. The rest were passed out in their rooms...the result of hard partying and/or drinking. Except for my friends that is, they happened to not be allowed here- least of all, Gaara.

Turning involves some bloodshed and really, Gaara's always said he found the scent of my blood particularly appealing. We wouldn't want him going all "Me vampire hulk. Me like blood." and ripping me to bits just to get a drink.

Besides, he has a strange love for Bloody Marys...and he might end up fighting Kakashi and Jiraiya for those.

Itachi was standing next to me, explaining the history of Turning and I couldn't be bothered to listen especially with the fact that he also didn't seem to be too enthusiastic about telling us the story... He took a sip of his vodka-laced Bloody Mary (that happened to be more vodka than Mary) after every three words and somehow, I wished he would offer me some.

By the way, when I said 'us', I meant 'Sasuke and me'.

Sasuke was in a jacket and jeans, smirking -no doubt- at my ensemble.

Whatever.

Even dressed like a clown, I'm still gorgeous.

The people around me were all somewhat busy; my dad had just arrived, having evaded my mom (I think he must have tied her up in a room somewhere after drugging her...cause really, my mom is way too meddlesome for her own good); Sasuke's dad was staring off into the distance distractedly while he talked to Kakashi and Grandad was trying to chat up the waitress and the buffet attendant- both wolves- who were _both _eyeing him distastefully.

Turning is a wolf-only event...which is why my mom was probably working on her escape from a prison cell somewhere trying to come gate-crash the event, like she did the night before.

Honestly, my parents should be thrilled I'm not a hardened criminal yet... With my mom as a role-model, there's not much hope for me in the good guy department.

Moving on...

I suppose I was kinda grateful for the excessive alcohol provided last night that was now saving my ass from getting mated to the arrogant bastard in front of _all _the wolf packs.

Yes, in my full almost _twelve hours _of knowing Sasuke (even with me being asleep for most of them), I was positive he was an ass.

The smirks went a long way in proving his assy-bastardy ways. In fact, I thought that he'd be perfect as the lead in a movie called 'The Way of the Bastard'. He's definitely got it down to an art.

With all my looking about, I could see the moons behind Sasuke... One large one- a half moon, pale blue- and a much smaller one next to it- full and a brilliant purple.

I suppose the Alorian is also super expensive for its views. The fact that it's on a really big hill should definitely be a plus- especially with _that _kind of view.

I must say, the place looked really good.

Lanterns were lit, hanging from vines and shrubs, leaving the whole area with a dim serene feel to it. There was also the extremely feminine décor consisting of a wide array of flowers (that convinced me that my mom should have kidnapped the decorating crew). The only things missing were unicorns and rainbows but I'm pretty sure they were just stuck in traffic.

"Are we clear?"

It slowly registered to me that Itachi was finally done speaking and I looked at him.

Sasuke and I were both brought down here by Itachi. To our credit, we both tried to kill him when we found out what time it was. We at least have that in common. Yay. A desire to murder is a truly bonding experience.

The three of us were standing inside a drawn circle. Another Turning thing. The Turning circle.

The Turning circle can only be drawn by a Guardian, otherwise it's just another chalk circle. Which is why Kakashi is present here when he's not a wolf.

_Every _event in Konoha, no matter how exclusive, must _always _have a guardian present.

Guardians are basically the equivalent of lawyers...except that in addition to using big words and fancy law jargon, they also have demon magic on their side- which is why anyone with half a brain knows not to anger them.

"Hey Kakashi! Get your ass over here! We wanna get this thing started!"

Evidently, all of Itachi's brain was left back in his room.

Kakashi shot Itachi an exasperated look before sighing and stepping up to the circle.

Itachi quickly left and Kakashi came in.

No one but the two of us must be inside the circle when the actual ceremony begins but Kakashi's presence is necessary to start it off. The Turning circle is actually a protective measure for those _outside _it.

Apparently Turning can be very "dangerous". I think they just want to avoid telling us that it's "painful" what with the torture that was our marking and the whole "Don't kill each other" procedure Kakashi graced us with.

I really can't deal with any more pain.

The thought of being mated to Sasuke doesn't appeal to me. Hell, when I try to think about it, my brain just stops. It _refuses_ to think. I furrow my brows, beat my chest, _roar_...but the damn thing just sits there, on an obvious strike.

I can't even blame it. It's probably protecting me.

Kakashi cleared his throat and waited while the others all moved to stand right outside the edge of the circle.

This feels sort of cult-ish.

Kakashi put his hands together and clapped.

"Alaris Ton Sena."

Ah shit. He's speaking Veloran.

I didn't have time to think over that before Kakashi leaped out of the circle with surprising agility and left me in with Sasuke just as a light shone from the circle line, rising up slowly to the sky in red and blue flickering lights.

Great, I'm stuck in here with Sasuke.

The light continued to rise until we couldn't see how far up it went and then, still shining, it solidified and turned into a glass barrier.

Sasuke and I turned to each other and waited.

We both knew this thing worked.

In general, the male bites his mate and they become officially betrothed.

A tiny glitch in this is that we're both males...and both alphas...

So there is no way in _hell_ I'm letting that fool bite me.

Someone rapped on the glass and we turned to see Kakashi pointing at his watch and making a "hurry this along" gesture at us...adding a "Go on, bite him" for extra measure.

Sasuke took a step toward me and I growled at him.

"Don't you _dare_."

He smirked. "Hm? Why not? It's obvious I'm the man in this..._thing_."

I snorted. "It's cute how you actually believe that, princess."

His eyes narrowed and he let out a low growl.

A warning.

Screw that.

I stepped toward him and grinned. "Tell you what...how about we try this thing the right way."

He lifted a delicate eyebrow at me and I resisted the urge to point out how girlie he looked when he did that.

"We fight."

Sasuke smiled slowly.

"Sorry guys, no fighting! Unless you want a repeat performance of last night!" Kakashi shouted cheerfully.

"It won't be an actual battle," Sasuke explained, expressing my thoughts. "It'll be to see who can bite the other first."

"Funny, that sounds like 'fighting' to me," Kakashi said dryly.

"Do you _want _to be here all day?" Sasuke growled at Kakashi.

The gray haired man just shrugged. "I wouldn't mind. There's lots of alcohol."

Sasuke seemed to be struggling not to just break the circle and kill Kakashi.

I sighed. "Let's begin."

"What are the rules?"

I shrugged. "No rules."

Sasuke's grin should have told me that that was the worst possible thing I could say but hey... I have a reckless side.

I stepped back as Sasuke let out a soft growl.

Oh shit.

A soft glow radiated from his body, red and dark, warning me to take the initiative before I ended up dead.

I ran towards Sasuke and just as he transformed, leaped into the air and landed on the glass. Pressing myself flat against the barrier and ignoring the surprised murmurs of people wondering how I'd managed to control my chakra enough to stick to the glass, I watched Sasuke turn slowly.

Black fur with dark blue hues graces his whole body. He was pretty large for a teenage wolf and I managed to keep my impressed gaze from escaping.

If I get out of this alive, I'm so gonna start appreciating rules.

"Shoulda set some rules, son!"

"Shut up dad!"

Geez.

You'd think he didn't want a kid.

Sasuke chuckled in all his Phased glory and I struggled to think hard as he approached.

With his size, he wouldn't be able to reach me right now, but given the chance to gain momentum, like he's doing right now by running toward me, he could _easily_-

I pressed my hand to the glass and spun, propelling my body higher and missing Sasuke's teeth by mere inches.

"That was pretty close, Naruto!"

"Quiet dad!"

I was upside down with all the blood rushing to my head. Sasuke chuckled below me, his bushy tail swishing excitedly.

"Quit running Naruto!"

I smirked down at him. "I _like _running."

"So you're a coward?"

I shrugged, carefully maneuvering to be upright again, feeling very much like Spiderman...

"Cowards live longer."

Sasuke was glowing again and for a moment, I panicked.

Do wolves evolve in their phasing?

Is he gonna get bigger?

He's chakra was now a persistent itch and I growled in irritation.

My growl however, was cut off when I saw the glass change to light green. That couldn't be good. I'm not a strong advocate of green, hence my usual reluctance to eat my veggies.

I felt my hands slipping and swore.

Sasuke took a few seconds to run to the other side of the circle, turn around and charge at me- at the exact moment that I fell.

His jaw was huge and managed to fit perfectly onto my shoulder.

Which was when things got weird.

Instead of crying out in pain when his teeth sunk into me, Sasuke was the one to let out a pained howl before we both dropped to the ground.

Sasuke's body was on top of mine and as I thought about how heavy his stupid ass was, he seemed to get lighter and indeed, smaller.

I stared up at him in surprise, wondering if I had some magic powers I didn't know about...or if my mom had showed up and was interfering.

I looked over at the people outside the barrier and frowned. They were all staring at us, gaping in shock.

"Whf w'ong?"

I was slightly startled to find that my words were being muffled by..._fur_?

What the hell...

I'd bitten Sasuke too?

I almost laughed at my subconscious determination and shifted from under Sasuke, letting his shoulder out of my jaws as I-

Wait.

...

Jaws.

Oh boy.

I looked down what had formerly been my nose- snout now- and scowled.

Sasuke snarled and got up off me, staring at me like the others.

I stood shakily and stared back.

"What?"

"You fucking _bit _me!"

Okay..._so _not what I thought he'd say.

"You bit me too, asshole."

"I thought you couldn't Phase."

I shrugged...well...as much as a wolf can shrug and mumbled to myself.

I huffed. "This is just so _anticlimactic_."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "This... was your first time?"

That sounded so wrong but I nodded.

I looked down at the fur covering me and I grinned.

I had golden fur, just like my dad, but with red undertones.

I was _awesome_.

Damn, with fur like this I just might not turn back.

And if Sasuke's apparent shrinking was anything to go by, I was pretty big too.

_Yes!_

I heard whispered words and a clap and the glass barrier vanished.

Sasuke and I stared at the people who were still in a good amount of shock.

"Uh...we're done?" I asked.

Kakashi nodded. "I guess. Didn't think you'd actually bite each other...and at the same time, too."

It was then that I noticed the coppery taste in my mouth.

"Ew."

I spat on the ground, trying to get rid of the taste of blood while Sasuke just sighed and sat down, looking like a patient pet.

I've tasted Gaara's juice before and I must say I'm supremely glad I'm not a vampire. I'd have starved myself to death years ago.

"So...really...that's it?"

Kakashi stretched, looking bored. "Yup. You both drew blood so you're both in each other's packs now. I'll get my assistant to start on the paperwork. Needless to say, he'll have to do some serious research to find some sort of protocol for two alphas- if one exists."

I noticed how he said his assistant would basically do everything. I felt for the guy, whoever he was.

"Naruto..."

I looked into the eyes of my father and grinned.

"Jiraiya told me it would hurt the first time," I said triumphantly. "It didn't."

Jiraiya snorted, standing next to my dad. "I was talking about _**sex**_."

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to my father.

"Please say something."

Dad smiled softly and reached out a hand to scratch behind my ear. Damn it felt good.

I mewled and he chuckled.

I glared at him and stretched, letting his hand drop.

"Son..."

I yawned, staring over my dad's shoulder at the Alorian.

"Um...can I go back to bed now?"

Dad smiled and nodded. "Sure."

I managed to see everything my dad was failing to put into words.

He was proud of me.

He was worried.

He was... scared.

And he loved me.

I nuzzled him and he stared at me in question, "Mm?"

"Uh...how do I change back?"

He grinned widely. "You _want _to change back?"

I shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I can tell I'm pretty hot like this but I don't think I'd fit on my bed."

He laughed warmly. "Just picture yourself being back to normal."

I did as I was told, closing my eyes for good measure.

When I opened them, my dad was once again taller than me, Jiraiya was being slapped by the waitress, Itachi was hogging a whole bottle of champagne and Sasuke was talking to his father in quiet undertones, back to his human self.

Everything was back to normal.

I was infinitely glad that our clothes don't get ripped when we phase and not overly concerned with how that's possible in the first place.

"Well...that was...interesting."

Dad clapped his hand onto my shoulder and I flinched, swearing loudly.

I pulled my shirt away from my shoulder and stared at the darkening bruise, fresh and bleeding, where Sasuke's teeth had sunk in.

"That looks like quite the hickey."

"_Dad!"_

"What? It _does_."

I glared hatefully at Sasuke and he smirked when he saw me gingerly holding my arm.

I smirked back, realising that I'd bitten him too...where his marking seal was...and if it was still slightly sore, like mine was feeling at the moment, he'd be in more pain than me.

He seemed to realise that too as he suddenly grabbed his arm, just near the shoulder and threw me a disgusted look.

_Yeah_, _sucker._

Fuck you too.

**(I am a math page break. I enjoy calculus)**

Jiraiya and Minato paused in their game of cards when they heard a loud thump. Peeking into the next room, Jiraiya sighed.

"He fell asleep next to the couch. Almost made it too."

Minato just shook his head and went back to look at his cards.

Instead of falling asleep like Naruto had said he'd do, the blond had run around the suite in excitement, Phasing and unPhasing, swishing his tail around and cackling madly with glee.

That had been three hours ago.

Jiraiya and Minato had stopped being amused after the first fifteen minutes of Naruto's antics.

Now, the blond had passed out on the carpeted floor, completely exhausted, having failed to reach the couch before his body shut down.

"Your son..."

Minato made a face at Jiraiya. "What?"

"When are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you."

"Aww, you're calling me smart. That's sweet."

"Minato-"

"_What_? Do you want me to wake him up _now_ and tell him?"

"He should be curious as to why he Phased so easily...and why he didn't feel any pain..."

"If he was, he'd be asking me about it."

"And you'd be lying to him about it."

"No doubt."

"Minato!"

The blond sighed tiredly. "I'm off to untie Kushina and get to bed."

Jiraiya blinked. "You _tied her up_?"

Minato shrugged. "After drugging her of course. But you know how resilient she is."

Jiraiya snorted. Of course he knew.

**(I am a perverted page break. Rawr)**

Itachi yawned.

His parents were having breakfast in the suite's dining room and he didn't want to join them lest they start talking about arranging him _another_ betrothal event...cause seventh time's the charm.

He grinned slyly.

He'd sneak out of the suite, with ninja stealth and-

"Go wake your brother up Itachi..."

Itachi sighed.

"Gently this time!" Mikoto added as an afterthought. "No summoning of any creatures, do you understand me?"

"But Sasuke _likes_ snakes," he groaned, coming into view.

"Be that as it may, I don't think he enjoyed waking up _inside _one."

"How would you know?"

Mikoto graced her son with an unamused glare and he sighed again. Uchihas certainly had glaring down to an art.

Itachi mumbled something about ungrateful little brothers and headed down the short hall to Sasuke's suite.

Finding the door locked, he lit his fingers with chakra and threw it open.

"SAAAAAAASSSSUUUUKEEEEEEE!"

The brunet paused, huffing in annoyance before striding into Sasuke's bedroom.

His little brother was still soundly asleep and Itachi smirked.

Heck, if he was grumpy and had to miss his morning shot, then Sasuke should suffer.

That was what little brothers were for after all.

Itachi waved his hand and a minute later a snake dropped out of midair, swearing angrily.

"Who the _fuck_-"

Itachi looked down at it. "Ah, Kaori, nice of you to come."

The dark blue snake scowled at him. "Assshole," It greeted. "What do you want?"

Itachi pouted. Seriously, of all the summons that could have appeared, Kaori was the one who respected him the least even though he was one of the smaller serpents and would have easily coiled around Itachi's arm and be thought to be a large bracelet or something.

"Hey Ssstupid, ssstop ssstaring off into ssspace."

Itachi exhaled noisily. It was like they had no idea how powerful he was.

"Quit pouting and tell me what you want."

See?

"Were you doing anything particularly important?"

"Ssstaring at a rock...ssso yeah."

Itachi huffed and said, "Oh well, I wanted you to help me bug Sasuke but since you're busy-"

"Where isss he?"

Itachi smirked.

Kaori had a soft spot for Sasuke, as did the rest of the snake summons, probably because while Itachi always called them to play pranks or scare patients into getting shots, Sasuke actually called them for serious matters.

But even though Kaori didn't _hate_ Sasuke, he enjoyed bugging him cause well...the snake was a bastard like that.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Bring me a weapon of your choice to wake my brother up in the _gentlest_ way possible..."

Kaori hissed with glee and slithered away, returning moments later with his choice.

He handed it to Itachi who chuckled. "Perfect...and pretty subtle, for you."

Kaori just moved to the farthest corner of the room, out of harm's way.

Itachi pulled a lighter out of his jacket and lifted the firecracker in his hand, grinning as the flame fizzed and crackled moving along the string.

He then threw it onto Sasuke's bed and waited.

_5...4...3...2..._

_**BOOOOOOM!**_

"_ITACHI_!"

Being a big brother was so rewarding.

**(I am Huey page break. REVOLUTION!)**

"Naruto!"

I lifted my hand, ready to tell whoever was waking me up what I wanted them to go do.

"I suggest you put your hand back down before you lose it."

_Mom?_

I opened one eye and stared at the fierce redhead that was my darling mother.

"I... uh...was just gonna wave."

"Uh huh," She rolled her eyes. "Wake up."

Behind her, I could see Sakura and Kiba snickering while Gaara just smirked.

Some friends _they_ are.

"Your bags are all packed and we'll leave in an hour. Get dressed and head down for lunch. Everyone's in the lobby."

As my mom walked away, I noticed where I was and remembered what had gotten me there.

"Guys! I phased!"

Yeah, cue excited squeals, an impressed grunt and a sigh.

"I can tell."

I stared at Gaara who just stared back at me blankly.

"Uh...what do you mean?"

"Your scent. It's gotten stronger."

I edged away from the vampire and said, "Look Gaara, no matter how delicious my blood is...I kinda need it to stay where it is."

Gaara smirked. "Well...when you're ready to share, lemme know."

Sometimes, Gaara's really creepy.

"If you two are done flirting..." Sakura announced tartly. "You need to go get ready, Naruto. Your parents are driving you to KU."

"I thought we were car pooling."

"_We_ are," Kiba yawned. "_Your _folks want to have you experience Konoha with _them_ first."

Huh.

I'd almost forgotten I'd never been in the magical world before.

It's weird but even though I went to school in the human world with my friends , they all lived in Konoha every summer, leaving me by myself. The only contact I really had with Konoha was my family- and they showed up on every occasion that they could. Witches and Wolves... Well, there was also the Animagi and Vampires that I met at small gatherings when my parents would have their friends over (who happened to be _my _friends' _parents_).

Gaara's folks were pretty cool and always offered me spiked blood every chance they got...looking confused whenever I turned green and ran off. They drank animal blood but while Gaara preferred animal blood, _he _sometimes settled for blood-flavoured foods and juices...

Kiba's parents enjoy arguing about animals with Sakura's parents who enjoy telling them that witches could transform into better animals... Apparently, they've been having that argument for years.

When I was little, I asked my parents why we didn't live in Konoha. Dad had told me it was because my Grandpa Jiraiya was an old fart and needed us to stay close to him and make sure he didn't get killed by an angry mob of women he would no doubt be spying on. I'm not exactly sure why I believed that at first but with all the times I'd seen Grandad get punched, kicked and bitch-slapped, I grew to believe it wholeheartedly.

Now that I'm in Konoha, It doesn't really matter.

I got ready quickly and after Sakura checked behind my ears to make sure I actually _did_ wash back there, I was deemed presentable.

Breakfast was a blur.

I noticed that as it was almost ten, the other wolves were up and all taking up room in the lobby having breakfast.

I was surprised to find our family car waiting for us outside when we were done.

At least my dad's pajero was cool. Kiba's dad had to sell his stationwagon after his family voted and said they'd leave him if he didn't.

Poor Kiba's dad.

Anyway, I hopped into the car and bounced excitedly in my seat.

"Calm down, dear."

I stared at my mom like she was nuts, which she obviously was. I mean, hell, just _looking_ outside was giving me chills. The sun was surrounded by four moons...and it looked _**awesome**_.

The sun wasn't as blinding as the human one's and the moons around it were all orange.

Dad told me the drive was about three hours and that Konoha University was the best place for me to learn about Konoha...and about myself.

The road trip showed me that the buildings here weren't all that different from the ones back home. Heck, there's a clock tower that looks exactly like Big Ben.

Okay...

So, not much different in architecture _but_-

"MOM, LOOK!"

My parents laughed as I practically pasted myself to the window, watching dragons fly by, escorted by gargoyles and a-

"Um...is that a fairy?"

"Yes dear."

"And there I was thinking Konoha was hardcore..."

Dad snickered while mom looked affronted. "Hey! I'll have you know that our distant relatives are fairies."

"I didn't want to know..."

"Tough."

"Are they always so small? Like Tinkerbell?"

When mom didn't answer, dad said in an amused tone, "No, the tiny ones are different breeds. They have people sized breeds as well."

Mom was muttering to herself but I ignored that, settling back in my seat and opening up a bag of crisps.

My friends were all in the large van behind us and whenever I looked behind, they'd wave like mad- except for Gaara. Ever the cool guy, he'd just raise his glass to me.

Finally, when I was starting to nod off, my dad announced, "Welcome to your new school."

My jaw dropped when I spotted the university.

It was _gigantic_.

A massive buildings with pale gray walls, six towers, a spiral that rose and disappeared into the clouds... Surrounded by a moat, lakes and a dense forest...

Yes.

I was _impressed_.

Hell, I'd _never _go home.

We approached the university and drove into a large parking lot, right in front of a large lake- with no perceivable way to get to the grounds.

"Um, dad?"

"Hm?"

"Why're we parking here?"

"We can't get past this point. Only students can. Oh look, the Uchihas are waving at us."

"I'm not leaving the car," I huffed stubbornly.

"Fine then, we'll take you back home with us and find you _another_ magic college where you can live in the car cause it would be on such short notice. You can take naps and baths in the car and I'll hang your undies on the wipers for everyone to see and-"

"Fine!"

I grumpily got out of the car and stared around at all the students grabbing there luggage from cars and chariots. I spotted Sasuke and we scowled at each other.

My mom put her arm on my shoulder. "Cheer up Naruto. I didn't like your father at first..."

Dad snorted. "_Please_. After seeing my awesome studliness, your mother jumped me and then nine months later-"

"Gah! Stop! I get it!"

I glared at my folks as they helped me with my bags.

The others were saying goodbye to their parents and reluctantly getting kisses and hugs.

I succumbed to those myself and sighed as I pulled my bags toward my friends. Sasuke's parents were off greeting other people and I smirked as he was pulled into a bear hug by a large, burly woman.

"You ready?" Sakura grinned.

I shrugged. "Hope so."

Kiba came trudging up with his bags. "I _swear _I think my parents are trying to get rid of me."

Gaara chuckled. "That should be why they're making out by your car."

Kiba gaped, turning around.

"Oh _hell _no," he rushed over to them. "WILL YOU _STOP_! GET A ROOM DAMMIT!"

"Poor Kiba."

Sakura snorted. "Poor _us_. We _were _all in the same car and with Kiba's sister driving, our parents decided to give us the 'birds and the bees' speeches."

"That's...not so bad," I offered.

"They made some changes," she shivered. "The 'birds and the bees' somehow managed to become 'the vampires, the animagi and the witches'."

"Apparently they thought we'd have a threesome," Gaara added softly.

I hid a smile and watched Kiba come back, huffing in annoyance and mumbling about parents with infinite libidos.

"Your ride's here," Gaara's dad said, looking up.

We all followed his gaze and let our jaws drop heavily.

"_Dragons_?"

They all circled wildly for a minute before diving down and hitting the water, **hard**.

The resulting waves drenched all of us and while most of us were going- "Awesome!", there were those who were less inclined- "My _shoes!_"

Just when the last ripple settled, the large number of dragons all came up, roaring menacingly and flapping their wings to get rid of the water, splashing us some more.

Wet and looking very much like drowned rats, we waved goodbye to our parents and ran to where a man with a bandage over his nose and a small square goatee was calling for students to come forward.

Some parents started to drive off while others (like mine) were determined to see us off to the very end.

"I'm Kotetsu Hagane," he ran a hand tiredly through his wild brown hair. "Mr. Hagane to you. The only reason I'm here collecting you kids is cause I lost a bet."

Great. He seems nice.

"For any first years who just wet their already drenched pants seeing the dragons, yes indeed, these bloodthirsty monsters will be the ones to carry you onto campus. Parents, kiss your children goodbye as you may never see them again. You have five minutes."

He paused.

"Those of you ready to go, get in line and climb on. Saddles have been provided and made secure. Bags will all be left here and taken to campus by the Krakken."

_Krakken?_

"Anywho," he continued. "Any luggage lost _will_ be recovered, and thieves will be hung and quartered. Okay, fifth years make your own lines, single file, no gender bullshit. You guys will be riding the Terrors. Everyone else, make lines according to your years. You know the drill."

I stared at the different dragons, not knowing which ones were which and wishing desperately that I at least knew _something _about them.

"First years, single file, luggage to your left. Hopefully your mommies all remembered to label em," he grinned. "You'll be riding the Bacias- they're as docile as bunnies so I'd appreciate it if you didn't cry."

We all clamoured into line and waved goodbye at our parents.

Dad had an arm around my mom even as she tried to hide a sniffle, mouthing "I love you".

I grinned and mouthed back, "I know."

She chuckled and blew me a kiss. I blushed lightly, turning back to Mr. Hagane before my parents embarrassed me.

Mr. Hagane was taking four students each and with the appearance of some magically procured steps, helping them onto the dragon's four-seater saddle.

"Guess we get to ride together," Kiba said, relief evident in his voice.

"Oh joy," Gaara muttered dryly.

Sakura remained quiet and was shaking pretty badly.

"Uh, Sakura... You okay?"

She turned to look at me, her eyes shining rightly. This is gonna be _**great**_!"

Oh. Shaking with excitement.

I turned away and concentrated on the dragons who were moving away once the students were on and seemed to dog paddle to the lake's centre, gaining speed before launching themselves out of the water. The screams heard weren't just from the first years and I laughed when I saw one guy- in the fourth year line- screaming before he even got on.

Poor fella.

The first year dragons were all green and scaly, no protruding spikes or sharp-looking body parts anywhere... They really did seem like bunnies. Giant green, scaly bunnies.

More parents left as more students were flown away and I bit my lip in anticipation.

I always did enjoy high places.

"Next!"

We were up. Gaara walked up first, moving up the steps and getting onto the saddle without preamble. Kiba and Sakura got on next and when I tried to-

"Either Minato shrunk or you're his kid."

I looked up at Mr. Hagane and said, "He's my dad."

I looked over at where my parents were standing and Mr. Hagane got a really large grin before waving at me dismissively and walking toward them. I shrugged and got onto the dragon behind Sakura, holding onto my own set of reins.

The dragons growled low, our only warning before it pulled away from land and turned.

My parents waved at me and Mr. Hagane smirked when I waved back triumphantly.

They got back to talking and I held on tight. The saddle was comfortable but the rushing water to either side of me made me slightly queasy.

I was glad when the dragon suddenly jerked forward, spread its wings and took off.

Sakura screamed in joy- "Hell yeah!"

The rest of us laughed and enjoyed the ride, waving at our parents for the last time as we went higher, getting closer to the school.

There seemed to be some sort of landing strip present when we were finally close enough to the humungous campus.

The dragon lowered us down gently to where a man with hair falling over one eye was helping students down. Too excited to wait for him, the four of us slid down the dragon's side and looked around us in awe.

The place was magnificent.

"Follow the dorm representative to your rooms," the man instructed.

We did as told, following some red-haired guy who was in a cloak and a uniform with a "D.R." badge on him.

"I'm Sasori Saito. Please follow me." He walked into the nearest building and we found ourselves in a large hallway.

"Maps will be provided at dinner," the dorm representative explained as he led us. "You will each be placed in a suite with one other person and will, for the next month, follow the buddy system."

"_Buddy_ system?" Someone scoffed. "This is college, dude!"

The guy sighed impatiently. "This is a university_ of magic_... with monsters and other things that could kill you at every dark corner," he turned to face us with a sadistic grin. "Best there's a witness to see how you die."

That shut the guy up.

"This wing, Zambezi wing, is strictly for first and second years. The third and forth years share Mweru and the fifth years have Hodgeson to themselves," He explained. "I'm a second year here and must warn you; the dorm may be co-ed but the rooms are not. Knock before going in or risk losing your accommodation."

We continued to follow him down the hall till he reached a spiraling staircase. He went up it and started to read off names when we got to another hallway with lots of doors.

"Ai Megumi?"

"Yes?"

"Suite 1 A."

She nodded and hurried into the first room where someone, her roommate I think, seemed to be waiting for her inside.

Sasori read off the rest of the names and each one branched off into their own room.

"Kiba Inuzuka?"

Kiba looked up. "Yeah?"

"Suite 24 A."

Kiba nodded at us before going into his room.

Eventually, only Gaara and I were left.

"Gaara Subaku?"

Gaara looked at him. "56 A."

Gaara nodded and entered his room.

"Lastly, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto," he turned to me with a small smile. "57 A."

I nodded and thanked him. He seemed abit surprised by that but cleared his throat. "You're welcome. I'll be back for first years at dinner time."

I nodded again and moved toward my room.

I opened the door and went in.

It was spacious, which was great, and I spotted two beds with think mattresses on opposite sides of the room. There were two terminals and bookshelves hanging over them.

Further inspection showed two walk-in closets and a bathroom complete with shower, tub and toilet.

Yay.

I sat on the bed by the window and stretched, laying down.

I heard voices in the hallway and stilled to listen. It sounded like a small crowd.

"BEWARE FRESHMEN! THE SECOND YEARS HAVE ARRIVED!"

This was followed by chuckles and catcalls and I rolled my eyes at that.

I wondered whether I'd like my roommate and hoped they were wild, like Kiba...or cool, like Gaara. Maybe even prone to violence like Sakura.

The door swung open and I looked up, my prepared smile crumbling as I stared at my roommate.

"Ah _crap_."

Standing in the doorway was Sasuke, still looking every bit the drowned rat...like me.

Someone shoved him forward and I gaped as Itachi came in behind Sasuke with a huge grin on his face.

"My gift to you," Itachi announced without preamble. "I pulled some strings and you two will now be sharing a room..."

We stared.

"You're welcome."

**(I am a Riley page break. Fo shizzle)**

The drive home was quiet.

Kushina was staring out the window and Minato was driving like a madman.

"So..."

"So..."

"It's pretty quiet."

"Yeah..."

"Minato?"

The blond sent his wife a small smile.

She wasn't falling for it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that."

Minato sighed. They were a long way from home and he didn't want the three hour drive to be graced with Kushina trying to wheedle information out of him. Might as well tell her now.

"Naruto Phased at the Turning ritual."

Kushina, not expecting this, gaped. "Minato! We have to go bring him back home! We have to-"

"Breathe, Kushina. He's with friends...and I'm pretty sure Sasuke won't let anyone _else_ kill him," he chuckled. "And besides...Tsunade's there."

Kushina bit her lip and seemed mollified.

"What...what happened?"

Minato smiled. "He grew fur and a tail."

Kushina sighed with relief, recalling a long forgotten memory.

"Do you think we should have told him?"

Minato shook his head. "It's too soon."

His thoughts drifted to the most important day of his life...the birth of his son.

He remembered being in the Konoha Hospital, smiling down at his wife as he held their bright eyed child...

**(Flashbacks are tricky buggers)**

**The cot was placed by Kushina's bed and Minato lay the little boy in it, smiling proudly.**

**He frowned however, when he heard the small cry. Looking at Naruto, his mind went blank.**

**The baby was glowing red...a glow Minato was familiar with...**

**It didn't add up.**

**Seeing the look on her husband's face, Kushina sat up tiredly and glanced at her baby.**

**Crying out, she ****tried to reach for him only to be held back by a pair of strong arms.**

**"He's in **_**pain**_**! Let me go!"**

**Minato held onto his wife as two people, the child's godparent****s, rushed into the room and upon seeing the red glow, froze.**

**Jiraiya stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on ****Minato's shoulder.**

**Naruto stopped crying and the three people watched as the other person in the room, a beautiful busty blonde, moved forward and picked the child from the cot.**

**The glow faded and they all watched the little red wolf cub held gently in the woman's arms**** in amazement.**

**Even more amazing ****were the four tails protruding through his little blanket.**

**"Tsunade?" Kushina whi****spered brokenly.**

**Tsunade looked at the burns on her hand and at the child, whose fur and tails were now retreating. The red fur turned back to gold and only a small patch of hair remained on the baby's head. Once again, the child was back to looking like a normal human baby.**

**He yawned cutely and fell asleep.**

**All four adults remained silent.**

**The child, Naruto, barely five h****ours old, had just Phased...and released a generous amount of chakra that had even managed to burn a world-famous chakra doctor's hands.**

**Naruto**** was given back to his parents and Tsunade used her own green chakra to heal herself.**

**Jiraiya**** looked solemn and finally spoke. "No one must know of this."**

**The tw****o godparents stared at the little boy and Tsunade grinned smugly. "He's really something."**

**K****ushina and Minato smiled proudly.**

**Outside the hospital doors, Tsunade wen****t to explain to the people and reporters about the burst of chakra that had been felt throughout the city.**

_**Nothing to worry about...just **__**Minato and Kushina getting excited about their son...**_

**The explanat****ions were taken without question.**

**Kushina Uzumaki and Minato ****Namikaze were both prodigies in their own right. Alittle excitement over their child was expected...and was big news. **

**Especially when they mad****e the announcement that they would raise their child in the human world.**

**(Flashbacks are cute and cuddly)**

Kushina smiled absently as Minato slowed down.

"He's a good kid."

Minato nodded. "Of course. He takes after me."

Kushina snorted at that.

With Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade watching over Naruto, everything would be okay.

They wanted Naruto to live a normal life.

Even if the chances of that happening now were almost nonexistent.

**xxx-xxx**

**A/N: Hey guys.**

**First off: thanks for all the reviews. I love em and they make me feel all warm inside (like pee).**

**Sorry for the long wait... I kinda had school and the other fics. *Dodges angry mob* I said I'm sorry Dammit!**

**By the way: ****I wrote this whole chapter today! Bow before me!**

**Or... not. I hope you don't hate me (or the chapter)...**

**Anywho, a few points:**

**Veloran is a language my friends and I made up. Here are a few phrases:**

**Ton Sena: soul mate.**

**Yuli korr: You idiot.**

**Shiiiiiiiiit: Shit **

**(that last one was Ashen's****, lol)**

**I've decided to make it the magic based language, as well as ****Latin so don't flip.**

**Mweru, Zambezi and Hodgeson were names of the dorms at my high school. Figured I might as well ****incorporate alittle bit of my life into this thing.**

**Anyway****...**

**For a free ticket to YaoiLand, press 1.**

**For a SasuNaru Lemon and other assorted fruit, press 2.**

**For world domination and a cookie, press 3.**

**For "why the hell don't the above buttons work", leave a review and a support team will get back to you once the strike is over. **

**Ps: No, you ****cannot**** press more than one button. Yes, you know who you are.**


	4. strange roommates and other surprises

**Destined**

by Rizember

**Summary: **Life was supposed to be easier once his mate was chosen but why the hell did it have to be him? Humour, Supernatural, SasuNaru

**Chapter 4: Strange roommates and other horrors**

**A/N:** **I just wanna say...um...look, an update? In your face, people-who-thought-I'd-never-update! **

**Er, those of you waiting for "The Four Seasons"...well...yeah, I don't really like the chapter I came up with and can't figure out what's wrong with it *sighs*.**

**Beta'ed by: **[UnBeta'ed]

**Disclaimer:** yaddee yaddaa, I own nadda…

_**Previously**_: "_Ah crap."_

_Standing in the doorway was Sasuke, still looking every bit the drowned rat...like me._

_Someone shoved him forward and I gaped as Itachi came in behind Sasuke with a huge grin on his face._

_"My gift to you," Itachi announced without preamble. "I pulled some strings and you two will now be sharing a room..."_

_We stared. _

_"You're welcome."_

Okay...so the universe hates me...

Itachi looked back and forth between me and Sasuke before bursting out in laughter.

"You should see your faces... I'm kidding."

I raised an eyebrow at him, heart beating in eternal hope but still...

"Sasuke's not your roommate."

I sighed in relief and collapsed back against the bed. "Oh thank _goodness_."

"Yeah," Itachi grinned, placing a box heavily on the ground next to the other bed. "**I **am."

I sprang up. "_What?_"

Sasuke was staring at Itachi so I assume he didn't know what was going on either.

"Aren't you alittle too **old **to...y'know, _be here_?" I asked bluntly.

Itachi shook his head. "Nope."

"Uh..."

"I'm the Vice Head of Chakra Healing department."

Sasuke sighed. "So _that _was your 'surprise'?"

Itachi nodded, unpacking books and placing them on the shelf above the other terminal.

I blinked. "You're serious?"

"Yup."

"Then shouldn't you...oh, I dunno, be in a _staff_ house somewhere..._away_ from the student hostels? And me?"

"Yes, but my place isn't ready yet."

"So why should _I _suffer?"

"Cause I requested your room."

We were all silent for a moment before Sasuke frowned. "So where's _my_ room?"

That selfish bastard, only thinking about himself...

Itachi looked at his brother in surprise. "How should _I _know?"

"Cause you said '_Let me show you to your room'_."

"Really?"

"_Itachi..."_

"Funny how I don't remember that. Anyway, I was wondering why you weren't asking why I was here."

"I knew you were transferred here from the hospital, stupid. If you aren't a staff member or a student, there's no way you'd have made it passed the barrier."

I blinked. "Barrier?"

Itachi turned to me. "Oh yes, you lived with humans," he said, voice full of pity. "Like most magical places, KU has a barrier around it to keep unwanted things out."

"Unwanted things?"

"Overprotective parents, Repo men, girl scouts selling cookies... You know, _those _kinds of unwanted things."

I'm not quite sure if Itachi's an idiot or a genius.

Hey, at least he doesn't have any alcoho-

"MY BABY!"

Never mind.

He's cradling a Smirnoff bottle and whispering to it lovingly.

And this is the guy supposed to actually _educate _people...

The door slammed as Sasuke, apparently having digested enough of Itachi's particular brand of stupidity, decided to leave the room.

The change was immediate.

Itachi put the bottle down and smirked.

"Thought he'd never leave."

I stared at him.

Okay...red eyes...calm...

"What just happened?"

He looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"You just kinda..._changed_."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you went from _super _creepy and high to...creepy...and high...and your eyes are red."

Said red eyes shone with amusement but that was it. No wide smile, no loud annoying guffaw.

His lips twitched and he said, "Ah, that."

I felt my eyes widen at that. "So you _know_ you're weird?"

He shrugged, going back to unpacking. "That's just to get on Sasuke's nerves. I'm actually quite normal most of the time."

"Um..._why_?"

"Call it a Brother complex."

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I rolled my eyes and lay back down on my bed.

Hell, I'm really glad I'm an only child.

"Shouldn't you be changing into something dry?" he asked as he took out a couple of books.

I closed both my eyes and shook my head even though he couldn't see. "No, I'm gonna have Sakura magic me dry."

"Unnecessary use of magic could be a crutch."

"I'll help her walk."

Itachi chuckled in amusement and continued to unpack, arranging things every now and then on the shelf.

"Why are you here?"

Itachi didn't even stop moving, answering as he placed what sounded like another book on the shelf.

"Because I have to."

"If you want to make sure I don't kill Sasuke, maybe you should be guarding him from _his_ room."

"And pass on the chance of getting to know my future sister-in-law? Don't be silly."

I gave him the finger.

"You really shouldn't be rude. Especially not when I control your grades."

I sat up. "You'll be my lecture?"

He nodded pleasantly.

"Lovely."

"Isn't it just?"

Had I done something wrong? Had I set fire to the goddess of fate's puppies in a past life? Had I called Zeus a fag? Had I-

"Look!"

I looked at Itachi and raised an eyebrow at him.

He was wearing a moustache and dark glasses.

"Think Sasuke will recognize me now?"

There's no reason I should be undergoing this kind of torture.

"No strange-person-I've-never-seen-before, he wouldn't."

"Oh good."

Itachi must have been dropped when he was a baby-

"I'm a master of disguises."

-from two storeys up.

Itachi chuckled and when I looked at him in question, he just smiled, taking off the 'disguise' and somehow gaining back his sanity.

"You shouldn't be so easy to fool."

"That really didn't fool me."

Itachi smiled. "Didn't it? I suppose you don't think I'm mad now?"

"I do actually."

"As was my intention."

I sighed. "You're weird."

"So Sasuke says."

I lay back down on the mattress knowing it was soggy and that I'd have to get Sakura to dry it too.

Itachi watched me. I could feel his eyes on me and for a minute, I wondered if he'd try to kill me on Sasuke's behalf.

"You know, you really should get changed. Sakura should be getting settled and if she hasn't already been carted off with a bunch of squealing females, she won't be able to help you."

That was fairly logical.

Itachi must have some serious split personality disorder.

I grudgingly got up and started to pack up my own things, getting a change of clothes out once I was done.

Only thing left was making my bed and well…it was wet.

I felt like an idiot but whatever…

There was as sudden knock on the door and Gaara walked in, not even waiting for an answer.

He'd changed clothes and was looking his usual 'devil may care' self.

He glanced at Itachi and then turned back to me, uninterested in the fact that Itachi was in my room, making himself at home.

Gaara faced my unmade bed and raised an eyebrow at him as if it would give him answers. "Did you forget your beddings?"Itachi snorted. "He wet the bed."

Gaara smiled slightly and shrugged, grabbing my arm and leading me out.

"The DR from earlier said to meet him in the hallway," he explained as we walked out.

The hallway was packed with both first and second years and the DA was at the end of it, yelling instructions.

Even without seeing the bastard, I could feel Sasuke.

His chakra signature was somewhere nearby and I kept my eyes switching between Gaara and Sasori so I wouldn't have to see the bum.

"You'll all follow me to Dayan Hall. Any second years trying to escape will force me to curse them." The boy removed a wand at that point and raised it threateningly.

Apparently he was serious cause an eerie hush fell over the hallway.

I raised an eyebrow at Gaara and he sighed.

"There aren't many witches and wizards," he explained. "So they're kind of feared."

"Why?""Cause they can use magic faster than the rest of us."

I shrugged at that and moved with the crowd when they finally started to edge forward, following Sasori.

We went up a flight of stairs and passed another hallway as we went.

"That's Mweru, for third and forth years," Sasori said briefly as he passed. "It's restricted to all other years."

"Oh man, this is like _boarding school_," Kiba groaned.

I looked back and smiled.

He'd elbowed his way through the crowd and was now being given glares from all of his victims.

He looked back at them and snorted before leaning heavily onto me.

"I feel like I've been shipped off to the army," he sighed. "All these rules! Don't do this, don't go there, I'll curse you… It's like I carried my mom with me."

"Have you met your roommates yet?" I asked suddenly, remembering that thing about the buddy system.

Gaara nodded, frowning with distaste. "My roommate's an asshole."

"Wow," Kiba gasped in mock shock. "Ten whole minutes and you already passed judgment?"

Gaara glared at him and Kiba rolled his eyes. "What did he do?"

"Said he'd slay me in my sleep."

Kiba and I blinked. "You're kidding."

"No," Gaara said dryly.

"And what did you say?" Kiba asked eagerly.

"That I'd rip out his innards and send them to his mother if he ever talked to me again."

I smiled.

I'd always loved that blood thirsty violent streak of Gaara's…when it wasn't aimed at me.

Kiba was looking green and edged away from the redhead, saying something about vicious bloodsuckers and their evil ways.

"Kiba?"

Kiba shrugged. "My roommates alright… a little weird I guess, but still, he was polite and shit."

Poor Kiba.

He'd probably been wishing for some demon-child so they'd have something in common and they could run amuck together, terrorizing the school.

"What about _your_ roommate?" Gaara asked me.

I scowled. "Well, he-"

I stopped mid-sentence, blinking as we came out into the bright sunlight.

We were on the roof.

It was nothing special, maybe just a great place to ditch class from.

Sasori walked toward the edge of the roof and jumped off.

Amid screams from the girls and surprised shouts from the guys, the rest of us rushed forward and looked over, expecting to see a really cool-looking splattered DR.

We were greatly disappointed.

Sasori was standing on _another_ flight of stairs that had been hidden by the roof's edge.

The stairs went down lazily, giving the impression of a wide hill.

The amazing thing however, was the large dome in the distance.

"What's that?" I heard myself ask.

Sasori smiled. "That's Dayan Square."

"But…" Kiba started. "It's round."

The DR nodded. "Yes, it is."

"Why's it called Dayan Square then?"

Sasori shrugged. "No idea. Let's go."

While everyone else was still breathing sighs of relief, Kiba and Gaara jumped onto the staircase and pretty soon, we were once again following Sasori.

Inside the dome, I could make out small trees and shrubs as well as some flowering bushes surrounding rows and rows of seats that were placed around the tables.

It would be just like sitting outside, underneath the sky.

"Is that where we have dinner?" Kiba asked.

Sasori nodded. "Yes. And every other meal."

"Why is it so far from the castle?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Aren't you supposed to answer them?"

Sasori huffed impatiently and decided to ignore Kiba who then started to make faces at him behind his back.

I looked back, wondering where Sakura was.

Easily spotting a head of pink, I saw that she was talking to a girl with short dark hair who was nodding and looking down, hiding her face even more than her bangs were.

We reached the dome in under five minutes and I realized that if I were ever starving, I'd die halfway before I reached Dayan square.

Seeing no door, I meditated deeply on how the hell we were supposed to get in.

Sasori simply walked through it and I gaped.

No one else seemed particularly shocked at that and I wondered if that was a usual thing in Konoha.

I wish I'd grown up here too.

The other years were already present and had filled up the seats at the back, chatting loudly and eyeing up curiously.

Sasori led us to the front and made sure us first years were all seated before he went to where the second years were.

Gaara, Kiba and me were right at the end of the first year seats, leaning lazily against the table as we waited for whatever it was we were supposed to be waiting for. Consequently, I was sitting right next to Sasori.

There was a single long table right at the front on a raised platform.

Like our tables, it had a clean silk table cloth covering it.

The chairs were really comfortable and the feel of eating outside while being inside the dorm was kinda cool.

My stomach growled softly, demanding I inform it of when dinner was going to be served.

We'd eaten on the way here but that had seemed like ages ago.

It had barely been an hour since my parents had dropped me off and yet somehow, I knew they were probably partying up a storm, using my room for exercise machines they'd never use and probably prank-calling the neighbours.

Cause my parents are mature like that.

A group of old guys suddenly entered the dome, walking all the way to the front where they took their seats and watched us.

I assumed they were the lecturers and sighed.

Here come the speeches.

A woman with long blonde hair and bright green eyes stood abruptly.

The square fell silent immediately and she nodded.

"Welcome to The Konoha University of Magic," she started, her voice ringing clearly throughout the dorm. "First years, we hope it'll be a pleasure and that you actually learn something. Maps to the school including restricted areas will be given to you after dinner as you head back to your wings.

I am Lady Tsunade, your dean. You will meet the rest of the staff as you go throughout the semester.

As you all know, I hate having to do this every year but the reading of the rules must be done."

There was a collective groan from the higher years and I let my head fall to the table.

"This year however, we'll have the rules read while we eat."

Cheers rang through until she raised a hand.

"Okay," Professor Genma will read the rules this year as he lost a bet with Professor Iruka. Please enjoy your dinner."

At that moment, men and women dressed like waiters and waitresses walked into the dome carrying covered trays and platters and placing them onto the tables. I quickly lifted my head from the silk cloth and waited as our table was also filled with dinner plates, glasses, trays and platters.

Once every table was done, the waitresses moved forward and uncovered everything.

My mouth watered at the food.

Roast turkey, salads, pizza, fries, grilled cheese sandwiches…

Hell, it was the most disturbing, but delicious-looking, assortment of food _ever_.

Tsunade smiled.

"Dig in."

Dig in we did. Grabbing serving spoons, we dished out food for ourselves and each other, passing the pizza platter around and asking people to pass the fries…

The salads didn't move much.

I was in food heaven.

Looking to the front for a moment, I noticed one guy with a bandana on his head and a toothpick in his mouth, sigh and stand up.

He help up a thick looking booklet and started to read out loud in a bored but loud voice, letting us know he _really_ didn't want to do this.

"_Rules and regulations to be followed by the students of The Konoha University of Magic. As written and expanded, no matter how grudgingly, by Lady Tsunade, the Dean._

_Rule number 1- Follow the rules._

_Rule number 2- Respect each other…or else._

_Rule number 3- Killing is prohibited."_

I zoned out, eating and listening to Kiba who was talking to the guys across the table.

"Wish we'd eat like this everyday," Kiba was saying. "I'd never go home."

"_Rule number 9- ALL angels and demons are to refrain from having holy wars in the hallways._

_Rule number 10- Any male shape-shifters found sneaking into the girl's showers will be made permanently female'._

One guy, with round shades that made me think of the Beatles, nodded in appreciation for the food. He was in a large trench coat and had hair that was sticking up in an interesting looking afro.

"Oh yeah," Kiba said abruptly. "Naruto, that's Shino, my roommate. Shino, these are my best friends, Naruto and Gaara."

Gaara and I nodded at Shino and he nodded back.

Yeah… he was weird.

"_Rule number 17- Any vampires caught drinking anyone will be expelled."_

I smirked. "Yay."

Gaara scowled. "_What_? What if I drink just alittle? Or what if someone _offers _their blood?"

"I'm not offering you my blood."

"I thought we were friends."

Silly Gaara.

"_Rule number 21- Witches' brooms are not to be used to sweep the floors."_

Next to Shino, a boy was talking loudly about…the springtime of youth?

He was wearing a whole lot of green and I was under the impression that he must be Irish.

"Shino's from Australia," Kiba went on.

I stared. "I thought most people grew up in Konoha."

"Konoha's our _world_, Naruto," Gaara said patiently. "So even though it's still Konoha, he's from the part that's in Australia."

Shino nodded at Gaara's explanation and his dark glasses turned toward me."You were raised with the humans."

It was a statement.

"Yes."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get used to this soon," he said.

His voice went up at the end of his sentences.

He was definitely from Australia.

"So, there are people from all over the world here?" I asked.

Gaara nodded, his concentration used up as he stared at a bunch of blushing third years on the next table that were staring back.

One winked at him and he raised his glass at her in a silent cheers.

"Keep it in your pants," Kiba said glumly.

Well, who were we to think that we could hold onto Gaara's mind for more than five minutes.

I'm amazed he's not making out with anyone under the tables already.

I studied Gaara, wondering what they saw in him.

Sure, his hair's kinda cool…and bright. And I do like red…not as much as black and orange but still…

Is it the fact that his eyes are almost always at half-mast, giving ladies the 'come hither' look?

And 'come hither' they did…

Gaara was like the world's biggest playboy and the funny thing was none of the girls he dated (if what he did could be called dating) ever seemed to mind sharing.

Like they were honored to just be with him at their allocated time.

Gosh, I hoped he didn't get any of my cousins pregnant.

"I think it's the hair," Kiba whispered to me, apparently thinking the same.

The only girls we'd ever seen immune to the vampire's charms were Sakura, Kiba's sister Hana and our moms (thank goodness).

"_Rule number 28- Werewolves found killing anyone during a full moon will be expelled. Anyone suffering from moonrush must report to the nurse's office and admit themselves every full moon."_

"Moonrush?"

"Not all wolves can control their animalistic instincts when they transform," Gaara said distractedly.

"But-"

"Phasors can. Normally."

I miss Sakura.

At least _she'd_ give me an explanation to my face as opposed to trying to look down someone's blouse when they were seated across the room.

Honestly, I have no idea how he does it.

Maybe vampires have x-cloth vision or something.

"_Rule number 34- all ghost students must refrain from telling stories about themselves. They must also refrain from passing through other students. It's creepy."_

"Ghost students?"

Sasori looked at me for the first time during the meal with confusion in his eyes. "Were you raised with _humans_?"I nodded, already getting tired of that.

His look turned to one of pity as he took over Gaara's job of explaining stuff to me.

"There are only a few ghost students attending here and they're in the last two years."

"Cool… but uh…"

Sasori smiled, brown eyes warmly looking at me.

I shifted uncomfortably.

"They're students who died but decided to continue with their education," he offered.

Before today, I had no idea ghosts were real.

Sasori motioned for me to look at the last table and my eyes widened in amazement.

Two ghosts, a guy and a girl, were floating above the rest of the table, chatting cheerfully with their classmates.

"That's…creepy."

The DR nodded. "You'll get used to it."

"So… can they…y'know?" Kiba asked crudely.

Sasori frowned at him. "No, they can't reproduce but yes, they can have sex. No, I don't know how and yes, feel free to ask them yourselves."

I continued to study the ghosts and felt bad for having to question Sasori again.

"Do they have families?"

For some reason, they guy didn't seem to mind answering my questions.

He nodded. "Some of them still live with their families who're alive. Others have to move into adoptive ghost families if their real ones can't cope with them being transparent and all."

"_Rule number 49- Death gods are to refrain from trying to kill people. Life is hard enough without you trying to 'lead people to the light'. Also, the angels don't appreciate it."_

"I could give you a book of all the monsters allowed to study here," Sasori suggested helpfully.

I nodded, thanking him profusely.

He shrugged. "that's alright."

"By the way, I saw you with a wand earlier, are you a wizard?"

He shook his head. "No way. Those idiots are completely overrated. I'm a warlock."

"What's the difference?" I asked, trying to remember if those Sabrina books Sakura had read insistently when we were younger had any information on the differences between the two.

"Wizards tend to be highly paranoid."

I blinked. "Seriously?"

He nodded with a sly smile and excused himself, turning back to his friends and rejoining their conversation.

"_Rule number 59- No one is allowed to-"_

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"We all stopped what we were doing and looked up to see the dean holding up a wand and…

A rat was floating us.

I looked down across Gaara at where Kiba had been sitting and I sighed.

_Dammit Kiba…_

I'm impressed.

I hadn't noticed Kiba leaving.

Tsunade suddenly turned her wand toward the second years tables and another student, in the form of a white ferret, joined Kiba.

They both turned back into their human forms.

Kiba was trying his best to look remorseful but his glee was evident.

He must have seen some pretty impressive underwear during his peeking spree.

The other boy floating next to Kiba had shoulder-length white hair and was looking as pleased as Kiba.

Gaara seemed uninterested in the events going on right above our heads but I could see Sakura hiding her face in her hands, embarrassed that she knew the idiot who'd been caught looking up girls' skirts.

Kiba was assured of an intense pummeling when Sakura got to him.

For the moment, he was too busy introducing himself to the other animagus in the air.

Tsunade sighed and sat down, letting the boys remain in the air.

The chatter continued after that, with girls now sitting cross-legged on their chairs.

"Hey Naruto!"

I looked up.

Kiba pointed toward the other boy.

"This is Suigetsu! He's an animagus too!"

"Oh joy."

Suigetsu winked at me and I gave him a short wave.

"He says we're the only two animagus boys here."

"Yeah," Suigetsu stated proudly. "We're pretty easy to spot."

"So we just look for you under any girl's seats?" Gaara asked dryly, finally bothering to look up.

Suigetsu nodded. "Yeah."

Gaara shook his head and turned back to his food, now completely ignoring the girls who now looked utterly disappointed.

Gaara's a bastard like that.

It's part of his charm.

Now that they're wondering what the hell they did wrong, they'll probably seek him out, make out abit and then Gaara will ask for her roommate's name and number. He won't _call_ but the girl will no doubt mention it bitterly to her roommate who will then also seek the vampire out.

And it's like they fall harder once they realize he's a vampire.

Like it's sexy or something.

I rolled my eyes at that and elbowed Gaara.

He glared at me.

"Quit messing with their heads."

He blinked. 'Who?"

Oh, the guy's good…

"Those girls you were looking at earlier."

Gaara snorted. 'I'm not interested in them."

I was shell shocked. " No way. Why not?"

Gaara smiled slowly at me and I could hear the love-struck sighs from across the room.

"Your blood's too distracting," he said, his voice low.

I edged away.

"Gaara… I really need you to stop saying stuff like that."

His eyes were on my neck and I gulped.

"I can't help it," he said. "It's not my fault."

"And what, it's _my_ fault?"

"It _is _your blood," he countered.

I eyed him suspiciously and he sighed.

"_Fine_," he turned back to his juice with what looked like a pout. "I won't drink you till you give me permission."

"Thankyou."

I noticed that Genma had resumed reading.

"_-If anyone tries throwing silver cutlery at werewolves or sharpened pencils at vampires, permission to kill will be granted to the assaulted party."_

This school is weird.

I love it already.

**(I am a Sasuke page break. Smirk)**

Sasuke hated the Reading of the Rules.

It was terribly boring and he detested waiting.

Unlike the rest of the years, he wasn't pigging out and his new roommate, Shikamaru Nara, was lifting food to his mouth in the most impressive slow motion scene Sasuke had ever seen.

Shikamaru was a second year, like him and they had to share a room because their former roommates were now third years and had moved to Mweru.

Sasuke's old room had been given to a pair of freshmen and he'd had to move to their new one.

He didn't mind Shikamaru so much.

The boy was exceedingly lazy but they'd shared almost all their classes the previous year and Shikamaru had proved that he was pretty smart, often beating Sasuke in their tests.

Sasuke felt himself being watched and looked up to find Itachi smiling smugly at him.

Being the good student that he was, Sasuke discretely flipped him the bird and went back to his cheese and tomato sandwich.

"_Rule number 65- All students must dress decently. We are breeding graduates, not hoochies and pimps."_

Shikamaru spotted Itachi but decided not to ask.

If the guy was sitting at the front, it obviously meant he was now a member of staff.

Sasuke was irritable.

He could feel his mate and if he was blindfolded, he could pinpoint the exact place the fool was sitting.

It also helped that he could see him, even though he was at the end of the second years table.

The blond was chatting with the people around him and every few seconds, would get a confused look on his face.

Great, he was betrothed to an idiot.

"_Rule number 75- No flying in the halls."_

Sasuke had seen Naruto's friend slip under the table and was feeling particularly vindictive. If the boy happened to pass under his seat, his squish him with his shoe.

The brunet's mood darkened when Tsunade saved both Kiba and Suigetsu- who really should have known better- and had them floating over everyone like some sort of decorations.

Sasuke turned away in annoyance.

Until he felt a particularly sharp rise in Naruto's chakra and looked at him immediately.

The redhead was eyeing Naruto openly, staring at his neck with an almost insatiable need.

That must be the vampire friend.

But why was Naruto reacting to the vampire?

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he studied them and a moment later, the vampire backed off and Naruto's chakra returned to normal.

Was Naruto scared of his friend?

No…

That wasn't it…

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and cringed inwardly when he heard a group of girl giggle.

He glared at them but they seemed unperturbed.

Another group of girls, near those who were trying to wink at him, was watching Naruto's group intently.

Sasuke caught a few choice words and grimaced.

"-the blond one's mine-"

"-heard he's a vampire!"

"-so hot-"

"-floating one's kind of cute-"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at that.

Girls could be so superficial.

He frowned.

"Don't frown so much."

Sasuke turned to one of the very few girls who didn't make him think of murder…much.

"You might stick like that," she admonished.

Sasuke huffed. "What I do with my face is none of your business, Tenten."

The girl just smiled tolerantly and whispered. "Yeah, you _would _think that, huh? So tell me, why are you staring at your mate so much?"

Sasuke growled at her and she snorted.

No one on campus knew he'd been betrothed, except for the wolves there and he was sure they'd respect his privacy and keep it to themselves.

Tenten however, was a whole other matter.

The girl was a member of his pack and a very talented Phasor.

She'd killed her mate at her betrothal a few months before Sasuke's and had been rubbing it in his face ever since.

He respected the fact that she wasn't afraid of him but hated the fact that she didn't seem to respect him much…or at all.

She followed orders when he made them but never without question.

In fact, there'd been a time when his clan had suggested they get betrothed if Sasuke failed to find a mate of his own as they complemented each other in their thirst for victory.

They'd both protested loudly at that.

Tenten smiled, tossing a grape at Shikamaru when he looked like he was going to fall asleep.

"Come on Sasuke, don't be such a sour puss." she grinned. "The guy knocked you out in under five minutes you know."

"I knocked _him _out too," Sasuke countered.

The brunette rolled her eyes at him. "Like that matters."

Her alpha just growled again.

"So," she said cheerfully. "Are you gonna announce the betrothal here in school?"

Sasuke was grateful for the fact that they were alittle away from the rest of the table and said, "No."

"But it might help get the fangirls off your back."

"I said no."

"Fine," she paused. "Sorry I got wasted and missed the Turning ceremony. How did it go? Did he make you his bitch?"

Sasuke twitched irritably and Tenten laughed.

"Sorry leader, I'll quit teasing."

"You will _not_ tell anyone about the betrothal or turning," Sasuke said, trying to be calm.

Tenten nodded. "Sure thing."

Shikamaru finally finished his salad and heaved a sigh, like it had been a Herculean feat.

"Lazy bastard," Tenten admonished.

Sasuke turned back to studying the enemy- his mate.

Naruto was now laughing at something Suigetsu had said and then aimed a mini-hotdog, throwing it perfectly into Kiba's mouth.

Pretty soon, almost all the first year boys were playing Robin Hood with their food in some silly contest to see who could get food into the flying boy's mouths.

Tsunade didn't stop them, instead sometimes twitching her wand so a slice of pizza smacked them in the face instead of going into their mouths.

It was like watching kindergartners.

Sasuke couldn't wait for classes to start.

He would gladly ignore the fact that he was betrothed to an idiot for the rest of the semester.

That couldn't be too hard.

Naruto was laughing and suddenly turned to Sasuke and caught his eye.

They stared at each other for an indefinable amount of time, no longer than a second.

Their chakra spiked, lashing out at each other across the tables even though no one could see.

The hall went silent and Sasuke noticed that all eyes were on him and Naruto, even though they were still seated a long way from each other.

Then Sasuke noticed and swore silently.

They were both glowing.

Naruto's chakra was leaking from him, a bright blue.

Sasuke looked down at his body and sighed at the leaking dark red chakra.

Shikamaru edged away while across him, Tenten frowned. "What's going on?"

Sasuke couldn't explain it.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Namikaze… Please report to the Dean's office," Genma announced dryly.

Tsunade stood and waved her hand, dropping Kiba and Suigetsu-

"OW!"

-before motioning for Sasuke and Naruto to follow her.

Sasuke scowled, glaring at Naruto as he stood.

Somehow, this was all _his_ fault.

x-x

**A/N: Hope that was alright.**

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**I guess I'm writing cause I love to write but…*sighs***

**Later.**

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	5. Unexpected battles and other scenes

**Destined**

by Rizember

**Summary: **Life was supposed to be easier once his mate was chosen but why the hell did it have to be him? Humour, Supernatural, SasuNaru

**Chapter 5: Strange battles and other scenes**

**A/N:** BEHOLD! AN UPDATE!

**Beta'ed by: **[UnBeta'ed]

**Disclaimer:** yaddee yaddaa, I own nadda…

_**Previously**_: _The hall went silent and Sasuke noticed that all eyes were on him and Naruto, even though they were still seated a long way from each other._

_Then Sasuke noticed and swore silently._

_They were both glowing._

_Naruto's chakra was leaking from him, a bright blue._

_Sasuke looked down at his body and sighed at the leaking dark red chakra._

_Shikamaru edged away while across him, Tenten frowned. "What's going on?"_

_Sasuke couldn't explain it._

"_Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Namikaze… Please report to the Dean's office," Genma announced dryly._

_Tsunade stood and waved her hand, dropping Kiba and Suigetsu-_

"_OW!"_

_-before motioning for Sasuke and Naruto to follow her._

_Sasuke scowled, glaring at Naruto as he stood._

_Somehow, this was all his fault._

X-X

**Naruto's POV**

**x-x**

As I walked toward the front of the dome where Tsunade was patiently waiting for me and Sasuke, I could feel my eyes widen with every step I took.

The dean seemed to be attached to two other members of staff that were apparently located on her chest. They were _obviously _sentient beings with minds of their own.

I wondered briefly if she talked to them in public or kept it private and what sort of conversations they had and what they pondered… Solutions to global warming? Cure for the common cold? The alarming rise in milk sales?

Shaking my head, I came up with a mantra telling myself to look at her face, not the mountainous range on her chest, but her _face_.

But seriously, how the hell had I missed _those_?

Granted, I'd been busy defending my neck from a vampire, asking millions of questions to a friendly warlock and glaring at Sasuke but surely there _must _have been some moment in time when my eyes had wandered over to the staff table and discovered a new land.

I looked over at the staff table and my mouth formed an 'o' as I realized why I hadn't noticed Boobzilla earlier.

She'd been sitting _and_ standing behind the largest turkey I had ever seen.

I'm pretty sure that _**that **_was the giant turkey's purpose anyway- boob camouflage.

Tsunade motioned for us to follow her as she walked out.

We were still leaking chakra and apparently this was a bad thing because students edged away from us as we walked passed them.

Walking out of the dome, Tsunade stared at the castle in the distance almost forlornly and sighed.

"Too far. Must use magic," I heard her mutter.

We stared at her and she pulled out a long white stick from the fissure between her two…

Erm, _focus_.

She pulled out her wand from the last place I'd expect it to be.

Tsunade smiled dangerously at us.

"Come closer," she ordered and we did, still maintaining a considerable distance away from each other. "Okay, be warned that I've had quite a few glasses of wine and if any of your body parts remain behind, I will take responsibility and put them back. Okay? Good."

Before I could protest, she aimed her wand at us.

I felt my insides lurch and shut my eyes.

The sandwich from earlier was making its way up my throat, screaming cries of freedom even as I clutched at my stomach giving unheard orders to anyone in there to keep the darn sandwich from escaping.

I doubted it would taste as good coming out as it did going in.

When the world stopped spinning, I opened my eyes.

Sasuke and Tsunade were both watching me with amusement. Sasuke's amusement was coated with a large helping of contempt.

I shot him a dirty look and turned away.

"Sorry," Tsunade said, not sounding sorry at all as she hid her wand again in 'the land before time'. "I forgot drifting's kind of dizzying the first time. Don't worry, it gets better."

"Next time I'll just walk," I grumbled.

Sakura had told me about drifting. It was like teleporting but without the large, cumbersome machines or the cackling, mad scientist.

When I finally gathered some concentration from the dizzy recesses of my mind, I saw that we were in a large office that I assumed was Tsunade's.

Bookshelves lined the walls and papers were falling haphazardly from her desk, falling onto the floor which already had its fair share of paperwork covering it.

"Sit down."

I looked behind me and saw a chair with a stack of files on it.

"Er..."

"Just toss them onto the floor. I'll get to them later."

I seriously doubted anything would be gotten to later but I shrugged and dropped the heap onto the floor.

Sasuke was already seated in another chair and he was staring out a window, looking quite bored with the whole situation. He looked alittle off with the whole leaking chakra thing going on.

Tsunade took her seat across the desk and smiled at us.

"So...care to tell me why you two are leaking chakra all over the place?"

I blinked. "Uh..."

"It's _his _fault," Sasuke stated, pointing at me like I was something he'd found at the bottom of his shoe.

Outraged, I stared at the asshole. "I didn't _do_ anything, you bastard!"

"Exactly."

"What the bloody hell-"

"Calm down," Tsunade ordered, leaning back in her chair and staring at the ceiling. "Kyuubi!"

I stared at her in confusion.

I turned to Sasuke but he didn't look confused, if anything, he looked utterly pissed off.

"Yes?"

I turned toward the sound of the voice and froze in my seat as I saw a body come in, moving through the wall.

I'd have pinched myself if my brain hadn't seen fit to remind me that yes, I was in Konoha and yes, magic was done here. A lot.

But still, that was creepy.

The man who'd come in through the wall was staring at Tsunade with a raised brow, his long dark cloak brushing against the floor with even the slightest movement.

He had bright red hair that was long at the back, tied back in a braid and short at the front, with uneven bangs almost covering his eyes.

He looked like one of those characters in vampire hunter books and I made a mental note to keep him away from Gaara, if I could.

Gaara has a way of finding trouble…and trying to bite it.

"Naruto, Sasuke-"

How did she know our names anyway?

"-this is Kyuubi. He's our Chakra control expert and will be taking every other class to cut Ebisu's workload."

Uh huh. Cause I know who Ebisu is…

"I took my chakra control classes last year," Sasuke said slowly, glaring at Kyuubi who just smiled tauntingly at him.

Hm.

I think I like Kyuubi.

"Yes, well," Tsunade said in a patronising tone. "If that's the case then why are you in here, destroying my seats?"

I looked down at the leather chair and saw that she was right.

My chakra was eating away at the leather covers.

Sasuke didn't have an answer to that apparently as he just gritted his teeth and stared out the window again.

"Then it's settled," Tsunade said with finality. "You will both meet with Kyuubi every evening after your classes for chakra control lessons. You still have to take Ebisu's courses though. Avoid this sort of thing happening again."

I nodded, not pleased but not having a say in the matter.

"So what do we do about it in the meantime?" Sasuke asked darkly.

"That's where I come in," Kyuubi said, his voice seeming to irk Sasuke.

We looked at him expectantly and he smiled.

"Usually, I'd suggest you avoid each other to the best of your abilities but as that would be particularly difficult given the situation of your betrothal-"

"How'd you find out?" Sasuke hissed dangerously.

Kyuubi chuckled. "Gossip. Every staff member knows but don't worry, we won't spread it around."

Sasuke huffed and Kyuubi took that as his cue to continue.

"Sometimes when monsters are feeling an overload of emotion, in your case, killing intent and hatred, their chakra tends to leak out of their bodies in an attempt to attack whatever is causing your distress."

I always knew my body was **awesome**!

Trying to kill Sasuke all on its own…

Nice.

"To counter it, it's common to just stay away from the other person but like I said, you've been recently betrothed _and_ you're in the same wing. You're bound to see each other a lot and we can't have you injuring other students with your chakra."

"Although," Tsunade said thoughtfully. "It is quiet impressive that we could all see your chakra." She stared at us. "Chakra manifestation is particularly difficult."

"I thought Kyuubi just said it happens a lot with people who hate each other."

"It happens a lot with people who hate each other and have an abundance of chakra...and it takes a great toll on their bodies."

"Wait," I interrupted excitedly. "So am I like, super-powerful or something?"

Tsunade snorted. "No. If anything, you're both super weak-"

I deflated.

"-because you both lack control."

Bah, what does she know?

On the plus side, that means Sasuke's some weakling, too. More so than me because he's had the bloody training and still can't do shit.

HA!

"Isn't it used in medicine?" Sasuke asked coolly, looking at Tsunade warily.

She nodded. "Yes, and there aren't many chakra doctors or surgeons out there, are there?" she paused and smiled. "You should consider medicine as your profession, especially seeing as how ten minutes have gone by and you're both still conscious and messing up my furniture."

Well, while it's really cool that I have the opportunity of becoming a chakra-using medic, I'm just in my first year and as of right now, feeling very pressured.

"So how do I stop this?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

The selfish bastard.

He watching the dark red chakra leave his hands and vanish after floating a few feet into the air.

I swear even his chakra screams emo.

At least mine was warm looking and attractive.

"Well, you two would have to kiss. The contact would act as a-"

That's funny.

I could have _sworn_ the Kyuubi guy had just told us to kiss.

I vaguely remember cleaning out my ears just this morning but maybe I hadn't done it well enough.

I _had_ been in abit of a rush...

When no one said anything or made a move, I looked up at Kyuubi who seemed to be looking at me expectantly.

I blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you just told us to kiss."

He grinned. "I did."

I chuckled. "Sure you did..."

"Yes," Tsunade said impatiently. "He did."

I stared at her and then at Kyuubi and _then _at Sasuke before I burst out laughing.

"Like _hell_ I will."

Tsunade shrugged and stood.

"We can give you privacy if you'd like but unless you do as he said, you won't stop leaking and the effects on your bodies will be much worse."

"Effects?"

"Severe fatigue, nerve damage, muscle tearing-"

"We get it. Bad things will happen."

Tsunade nodded and walked out with Kyuubi, leaving me alone with the bastard.

Sasuke still seemed to be in a significant amount of shock at Kyuubi's words as he was staring off into space.

I shrugged and leaned back in my chair, twiddling my thumbs and wondering how long it would take for me to pass out.

With chakra being our energy, and with how it was currently leaving our bodies in a steady flow, I guessed we had less than an hour. I hoped Sasuke blacked out first.

Then I'd have something to shove in his face for the rest of his life.

Kissing was definitely _not_ an option.

Being alone with him in a room made me shift uncomfortably as I struggled against instinct.

The instinct that was telling me to kill him while there was no one to stop me.

My nails dug into the fists I hadn't known I'd made while I tried to breathe calmly.

The second seal that had been placed to ensure we didn't kill each other was still fresh in my mind like it had happened yesterday.

Hell, it _had_ happened yesterday.

I frowned as I debated over whether I'd be in too much pain to kill Sasuke or whether I could kill him and _then_ suffer through the pain. And if it was simultaneous, would I be able to move through the pain and _still _kill him?

Hmm... So many questions and only one way to find out...

"Are we gonna do this or what?"

I looked over at Sasuke and saw he was glaring at me.

I shook my head. "I'm still thinking of the consequences."

"The _consequence _is that this stops."

Yeah, that _was_ true.

If I killed him, this would all stop.

And if _he _killed me, which I doubted, then it would still stop and I'd be free of him in death.

It was a win-win situation.

I stood. "Any rules?"

He looked at me oddly. "No touching."

"Well, _that_ would be relatively difficult," I sighed.

"Right, I'll take care of that then."

Before I could ask what he meant, I found myself tied up.

I looked down at the ropes around me in disbelief and stared up at him.

That _bastard_ had just used magic on me!

"What the hell? This isn't _fair_!"  
"I'm just making sure you don't touch me," he said bored, standing up.

"You're supposed to fight with at least _some_ honour," I spat.

He paused, standing right in front of me. "What?"

"You heard me you cheating bastard!"

His eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Killing you, you asshole!"

He shifted. "Killing me?"

I nodded. "Isn't this supposed to be a _fair _battle?"

"You want to have a battle to the death in the dean's office?"

I nodded again. "Isn't that what we just agreed on?"

He smirked. "No. I for one, am not stupid enough to agree to something so idiotic. Think, you dumbass. Say I _did _manage to kill you… I'd just end up expelled and in case you hadn't been informed, this is the best magic university in the world."

Figures the coward would worry about his education first.

"And in the event that I didn't, I'd end up dead and I rather enjoy life. Also, there's alittle matter of the fact that with the seals Kakashi placed, we'd probably pass out from the pain before we even got down to any killing."

Okay, sure it sounds logical but-

"If we're not gonna kill each other, what the hell are we supposed to do?" I growled.

Sasuke shrugged. "Kiss."

I gaped.

He kept looking at me like he'd just suggested we do something perfectly reasonable and _I_ was the one being an idiot.

"Are you _insane_?"

He sighed. "Look, we just have to get it over with and never speak of it again. I really don't want to spend my first few days in the hospital wing just because of this."

"It's _just _a few days," I tried to reason with him, willing to even _move _into the hospital wing if it meant getting away from kissing Sasuke. "There's no need to go through with it."

"It's just a kiss."

"Yeah?" I said angrily. "Then go kiss someone _else _then!"

"My chakra would burn them," he said evenly.

"Then go kiss someone who's spewing out chakra too!"

Sasuke looked at me patiently, like he was waiting for me to calm down before he actually kissed me.

No way.

Nuh-uh.

"Kiss me and _die_."

He snorted. "Or maybe you'll turn into a frog."

Oh ha-bloody-ha. I am _so_ siccing Gaara on him when I got loose.

I started struggling against the ropes, wondering just what the hell kind of dean went around encouraging students to have a good snog so they'd stop glowing.

It just wasn't right.

"Are you calm now?"

"NO!"  
He smiled and leaned closer. "Me thinks you doth protest too much."

"Me thinks you need to sod off."

Sasuke seemed to be enjoying my discomfort.

"Oh dear. You'll hurt my feelings."

"Untie these ropes and I'll hurt a lot of _other_ things, too," I promised.

The bastard just rolled his eyes at me, like I wasn't a threat at all.

I bared my teeth in warning as he leaned in, letting him know that if his lips came anywhere near mine, he'd never be attached to them again.

He placed a hand under my chin and tilted my head slightly upward as he smirked at me.

Oh crap.

He's taller than me. It's barely by an inch but it's enough to have me seething.

"What are you afraid of?"

My eyes narrowed. "Nothing."

"Then why won't you part with a measly kiss."

"Maybe cause you'd be begging for more."

He made a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat. "Uh huh."

When I remained silent, eyes promising various painful and bloody deaths, he smirked.

"You've never kissed anyone before."

I sputtered indignantly and before I could think to knee him in the groin for _daring _to question my mad skills, he leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead.

A moment later, the ropes disappeared and I was glaring wholeheartedly at him.

"You _bastard!_"  
He laughed tauntingly as I tackled him.

"What? Did you want me to kiss you on the mouth?"

I punched him in the gut and he reciprocated by punching me in the ribs.

We rolled around in the files and papers; punching, biting and scratching until we were suddenly pulled apart by a tired-looking Tsunade.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

When Sasuke and I just shot each other dark looks, she sighed and turned to Kyuubi.

"I suppose the contact from their little brawl was enough to get the flow to stop."

Dumbfounded, we looked down at ourselves and each other before turning to Tsunade.

She smiled. "Contact with the person causing your distress will stop the chakra flow."

My eyes widened. "But you said we had to-"

"Kiss?" Kyuubi chuckled evilly. "Well, it _is_ a form of contact."

"So…all we had to do was touch each other?"

"That sounds really dirty, Sasuke but yes."

My mind was making up many ways to kill the two adults and make it look like an accident.

Maybe I could murder them in a paper avalanche. With Tsunade's office the way it is, no one would doubt the possibility.

"I do wish you'd have kissed though," Tsunade sighed. "Maybe it would have helped you feel better about your betrothal."

"Unless one of you is a terrible kisser," Kyuubi put in and Tsunade nodded.

Great, I'd been enrolled into a school that supports pimping.

Wait…

Sasuke and I shared a look.

They thought we hadn't kissed.

That was perfect.

No one had to know the pervert had kissed me- granted he'd kissed my forehead but it was still a kiss.

I would pretend it never happened.

Because it didn't.

After all, denial is the best form of non-acceptance.

**(I am an emo page break. Bite me)**

We left Tsunade's office, following Kyuubi out. We stopped when we saw Itachi standing in the middle of the hallway.

Itachi smiled at us before he turned to Kyuubi and his smile fell.

Kyuubi and Itachi threw dirty looks at each other, apparently sneering for good measure.

"_Itachi_."

"_Kyuubi_."

"How brave of you to show your face around me."

"I know how you like looking at pretty things."

WTF?

I looked over at Sasuke but he was swearing under his breath.

Kyuubi and Itachi started to circle each other.

"You ate my chicken wings."

"I didn't see your name on them."

I raised an eyebrow at that.

Were they _serious_?

Sasuke leaned against the wall, watching the two men.

I turned to him. "Uh, shouldn't we stop them before-"

Kyuubi threw a punch at Itachi and the brunet kicked him.

I sighed. "-before they fight."

Sasuke tried to look concerned. "Too late. What a shame."

I rolled my eyes at the other boy and stood, watching the fight that was just getting louder.

"Those were specially reserved for me!"

Punch.

Block.

Kick.

"Who the hell do you think you are, reserving wings for yourself? You're selfish!"

Kick.

Block.

Poke eye.

"OW! You _bastard_!"

Yeah, this fight was utterly pointless.

The door to Tsunade's office was thrown open and the woman ran out, waving money in her hand as she screamed, "I got $50 on the big guy!"

Her gaze went over me and Sasuke before they landed on her two newest members of staff.

She sighed, putting her money back in the hidden crevice between her two pom-poms.

Seriously, what else does she have in there? Car keys? An umbrella? The lost city of Atlantis?

Sasuke cleared his throat, pointedly looking away while I just stared openly, wondering again if they were real.

"What now?" Tsunade growled at the two men.

They continued to throw punches while apparently trying to explain.

"This idiot ate my chicken wings!"

"They were public wings!"

"No they _weren't, _you dumbass!"

So…these were the guys who were going to give us an education.

Might as well have stayed home.

At least my mom could teach me something useful.

Like how to get money out of my dad.

I glanced briefly at Sasuke.

"What's all that about? Do they hate each other?"

"Tch, I wish," Sasuke said, probably wondering why he was even answering. "They're best friends."

"But-"

"They're also idiots."

No arguments there.

Tsunade sighed and glanced back at us.

"Still hungry?"

I nodded and she pulled her wand out again.

Hearing the muffled sounds from the dome, I opened my eyes and glowered at the dean.

It wasn't any better the second time.

I rushed into the dome and paused when there was sudden silence and every eye fell on me.

Someone bumped into me from behind and hissed angrily.

"_Walk_, dumbass."

I glared back at Sasuke, ready to break his face when Tsunade walked up to us and whispered, "If you start all that again, you'll be leaking every time you see each other and as perverted as that sounds, it will not be pleasant."

I sighed and stepped away from Sasuke, walking back to my seat. Sakura shot me a questioning look as I walked and Kiba was giving me the thumbs up.

I sat by Sasori and Gaara who were both studiously eyeing me.

"Why is everyone staring at me?"

"You just leaked chakra. Why do you think?" Gaara asked in a monotone, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't know," I stated dryly. "Tell me."

Sasori frowned. "Only great monsters ever do that."

Really?

YES!

I'm great!

I smiled softly, feeling really proud of myself.

He nodded, not exactly as impressed as I thought he should be given the circumstances. "Yeah."

Tsunade clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Okay, enough gawking. Get back to your food before I decide to take it away."

Reluctantly, the eyes left me and I could eat again in peace, knowing there were still glances being thrown my way.

I watched Sasuke and saw that the people at his table were talking to him excitedly in hushed voices.

I shrugged, deciding to read up on this chakra leaking thing.

It seemed like a good thing but I wasn't stupid.

Half the glances thrown at me were filled with fear and a few, I knew, with disgust.

I was tempted to just walk up to the few students who were sneering openly at me and ask them what the hell they were playing at. It's not like I leaked on purpose.

Gosh, that _does_ sound perverted.

Isn't there a word for it that doesn't sound like it should be used in a porno?

Dinner ended eventually and I escaped with Gaara and Kiba, rushing past the crowd. We were handed written copies of the rules as well as maps and all the listed restricted areas as we left. Deciding I wasn't all that ready to see Itachi, I went with Gaara to his room, telling Kiba I'd see his later.

Gaara opened the door and motioned for me to enter.

"Who are you?"

I blinked.

The room was dark and smelled like a forest- fresh and nature-y.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and Gaara turned the light on.

I hated when he did that. It hurt my eyes.

"I asked you a question."

There was a boy on the bed, shirtless. He obviously worked out a lot. I did the manly thing and stared blankly right back at him.

"Naruto. Who are you?"

"The vampire's roommate. Obviously."

Gaara ignored all this and walked into his fridge before bringing out with a glass of fake blood. His roommate shot him a glare and sat up.

"You disgust me."

Before he could try to kill Gaara, I stepped in front of him. He seemed slightly amused by that as he walked toward us both.

Behind me, Gaara took a sip of his juice.

His roommate's eyes narrowed.

"What's your problem?" I asked, wondering what the hell Gaara had done to his roommate. Had he _already _stolen his girlfriend?

The roommate glared down at me and I noticed that he had long brown hair and pale grey eyes.

"_He _is," he nodded at Gaara.

"What did he do?"

"He's a vampire?"

"So what?"

His eyes roamed over me. "Are you a vampire, too?"

I snorted. "What if I was?"

He stepped closer to me and I could smell his breath. Vanilla. Very gay.

"Then I'd have to ask you to never come back in here."

"Why?"

"Cause I'd be tempted to kill you."

I shook my head at him, disgusted at his behaviour. "Where do you get off hating someone for no real reason?"

Gaara chuckled from behind me and I heard a faint mutter of 'hypocrite' which I promptly ignored. Hell, I was defending his stupid ass and there he was calling me a hypocrite!

Stupid undead bastard.

"I'd appreciate it if you left."

"Sod off."

The next second, I found myself on the ground, pinned under him.

He studied me for a moment before he was thrown off. The room shook with the force with which Gaara had thrown him. In front of me, Gaara was standing like an avenging angel, looking _very pissed._

"He's not a vampire," Gaara said coldly. "And if you touch him again, I'll kill you."

The boy stood and glared at us. His anger seemed to grow as he looked at Gaara and then me. Then, something completely unexpected happened.

Behind him, wings appeared and spread out wide, almost the expanse of the whole room.

"You're shitting me," I muttered.

Gaara tensed in front of me and it suddenly occurred to me that if they killed each other, they'd both get expelled. Or sentenced to death. Or something.

How ironic.

"Neji."

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

The door was open and standing behind me was Sakura and that girl she'd abandoned us for.

The girl was presently looking annoyed, sending a stern look at the-guy-with-wings.

Sakura was quiet behind her.

The boy's wings retracted and disappeared before he walked back to his bed and lay down again, like nothing had just happened.

"What the hell just happened? Is he bipolar?"

"He's an angel," Gaara answered before turning to the girl. "And so is she."

The girl bowed slightly at Gaara and me and I noticed her eyes were grey, too.

"You're related?"

She seemed surprised that I'd spoken to her and she nodded. "Cousins. You'll have to forgive Neji. He tends to take his duty too seriously."

"His duty?"

She shrugged and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Now that she was no near, I saw that her short dark hair had purple streaks in it.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded and Gaara shrugged.

"What the hell just happened?" Sakura asked suddenly. " I leave you two alone for a few hours and you already start-"

"Well-"

There was a sigh and the boy, Neji, stood and walked toward us, grabbing a shirt on his way. He stopped at the door and turned to me abruptly. "I apologize for attacking you."

With that, he walked out, pulling on his shirt in the hallway.

When I turned back, Sakura was watching Gaara and the girl eye each other.

They seemed to be sizing each other up.

"I'm Hinata," she said finally, offering her hand to Gaara.

He shook it. "Gaara."

"I don't like you," she said honestly.

Gaara shrugged. "I don't care."

They both nodded and me and Sakura shared a look.

Weird.

"So um…why exactly did your cousin just try to kill us?"

Hinata looked at me again and paused, like she hadn't seen me earlier. "We're angels. It's instinct to try to kill dark monsters."

"Dark monsters?"

"Vampires, werewolves, ghosts… Well, we have treaties with all those but we still get to try to kill the demons at least. We hold no treaties or truces with them except in dire situations."

"Demons?"

She nodded, looking at me strangely. "They're like us, but well, evil."

Neji had seemed pretty evil to _me _but whatever. To be honest, 'evil' is relative. I mean, Sakura is _really _evil when she's PMSing.

But, the girl had just said I was a dark monster and really, that was kind of cool.

"We were on our way to the lakes. Would you like to come?"

I shrugged. Not like I wasn't doing anything.

Hinata nodded and led the way.

She seemed really quiet but somehow, I got the impression that she was a badass. Hell, she'd just told a vampire to his face that she didn't like him. And she hadn't flinched at all.

I liked her already.

She was like Sakura except for the fact that she wasn't prone to mothering me.

"You're the guy who was kerning earlier, aren't you?" she asked suddenly.

"Kerning?"

"Leaking chakra," she explained.

Ah ha! So it _did_ have a non-embarrassing name!

"Oh. Yeah…I guess."

"You should try contact with him. That usually helps. While a handshake usually does the trick, a kick to the balls is just as good."

I gaped at her. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I had the same problem last year."

"You're not a freshman?"

She smiled. "I am. I just didn't get along with my cousin when we met last year."

"So you both…kerned?"

"Yes. We used to. All the time. Until our fathers decided to make us play nice, shaking hands and hugging so we'd either get over it or hate the contact so much we'd stop hating each other."

"It worked?"

"Like a charm."

"And you never wanted to kill him?"

She smiled slowly, a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Oh I did. But I settled for playing pranks on him."

Yeah…she was definitely my kind of girl. Vicious and vindictive.

Must be why her and Sakura seem to get on so well.

Sakura and Gaara were talking while he sipped on his juice.

It occurred to me that Gaara had pushed Neji away from him while he was still holding his glass.

Honestly, I didn't know whether to be impressed or insulted.

He and Sakura were talking in low tones and it was creeping me out. Gaara wasn't making a move on Hinata and really, I was expecting it. He seemed to love challenges and here was the perfect challenge- a natural enemy.

"Where are you from?" Hinata asked me.

"The human world."

She paused in her step but recovered quickly. "I see."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she assured me hurriedly.

We were now out of the building and heading toward the fifth year's section of the castle. There was a short arch under it that led away from the castle. Lots of other students seemed to have had the same idea and were headed the same way.

The sun had already set and the air was cool. It was very relaxing and for the moment, everything was right.

I looked out at the lawn and my eyes widened.

Lanterns were floating in the air a few feet above the ground and there were hundreds of picnic blankets spread out on the grass, short distances away from each other.

People were simply walking between the occupied and empty blankets and sitting on the ones they wanted.

There was hushed chatter as they took their seats in the grass, most of them obviously being classmates or old friends.

Soft music was playing and I could see that some people were dancing.

With the setup, I was glad to see the place wasn't crowded at all. Even with the many students already there and the many students still on their way, it didn't ever once give way to noisy chaos from the peaceful, lantern-lit scene it was.

Hinata led the way to a large blanket particularly close to the water's edge. We followed her, walking between the rows of blankets and finally settling down on the chosen patch.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly.

Hinata smiled.

A loud bang filled the air and I looked up, startled.

"Fireworks?" I asked.

Sakura made a pleased noise and I heard Gaara grunt behind us, his way of saying he approved of the festivities.

The fireworks were loud and bright and seemed to fill the whole sky, cascading over us like a waterfall.

If I were a girl, I'd truly appreciate the ethereal beauty of the whole thing. But, manly as I was, I'd settle for saying it was cool.

Someone jumped onto me and I stumbled, only being saved from being knocked into the water by a steady hand from Hinata.

I turned and glared at Kiba.

"Are you insane?" Sakura whispered, smacking him hard upside his head.

Kiba pouted and edged away from the angry girl, muttering curses about witches and PMS.

It took a moment before he nudged me in the side.

Glancing at him, I saw him motion at me, pointing at Hinata and mouthing, 'Who's the hottie?'

I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm Hinata."

Kiba coughed and sputtered, grinning stupidly as the girl turned and smiled warmly at him.

"Er…Kiba."

She nodded and turned back to face the water leaving Kiba to wonder if she had eyes at the back of her head.

"Oh great."

I turned around and frowned.

_Seriously_?

Sasuke was there, on the large blanket just a few feet away from ours.

He had a book in his hand and from his expression, I could see that he'd only just looked up and had the sweet privilege of seeing me seated there.

He was sitting next to two girls, a brunette and one with auburn hair, both of who were looking back and forth between us, and two boys.

One was asleep with a hat over his face, seeming content to just lie there and quite possibly, not even bother breathing if the laboriously slow movement of his chest was anything to go by.

The other boy however, I noticed with resentment, was Hinata's cousin, Neji.

I did _not_ feel safe with that guy boring his creepy grey eyes into my back.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke demanded.

I looked at him like he was an idiot, which he obviously was.

"Sitting."

He scowled. "Leave."

Oh sure.

Like that was gonna happen any time soon.

I _had_ been intending to leave to moment I laid eyes on the plumage he calls hair but when he flippin' _ordered _me to leave…

Hell, I'd probably camp out here just to defy his stupid controlling ass.

I shot him a scathing look before turning back to face the water.

My friends did the same, all of them sporting smirks that were probably at my expense.

I thought I heard Gaara mutter something about a lover's tiff and I knew that if he died tonight, it would be by my hand.

"I told you to leave."

I snorted, not even bothering to turn. "I can't do that."

"Why the hell not?"

"It would be like asking you to grow a pair. Some things just can't be done."

There was a pause before.

"Wow. I fucking like this one," one of the girls said. "Hey Blondie, what's your name? I'm Tayuya."

I sighed. "Naruto."

"Nice to meet you!"

"Er…nice to meet you, too. I guess."

I heard a soft chuckle before another voice, a soft amused one, spoke out. "I'm Tenten. If I may ask, why do you and Sasuke hate each other?"

I tensed, wondering if he'd told his friends that he was betrothed.

I shrugged in answer. "Instinct."

She chuckled as if in on an inside joke while I settled for watching the few lanterns that had started to drift over the lake.

Sasuke huffed irritably and I heard the flipping of a page.

Guess he'd gone back to reading.

The next minute, something connected hard with the back of my head and I fell into the water.

Confused, it took a moment before to realise what had happened and swam to the surface.

Slapping away the offered hands and ignoring the amused chuckles of the people who'd stopped to watch, I dragged myself out of the water. I winced when a small sharp stone cut my hand as I pulled myself up but I was a man on a mission.

A pissed-off-as-hell mission.

I glared at the smirking Sasuke and picked up the book, throwing it hard at him.

He dodged and it smacked right into his sleeping friend who spluttered and sprang up, looking around with murder in his eyes.

He looked at me then looked at the book and then at Sasuke before he muttered something under his breath and lay back down.

I took that moment to throw myself at the stupid, smirking sonofabitch and managed to tackle him as he tried to dodge again.

People started to watch, cheer and make room as we wrestled and rolled, angrily punching and kicking.

And then we rolled into the water.

Underwater, I grabbed him and swam down, determined to die down here with the asshole.

My previous anger returned and all I felt was the animalistic need to kill him.

A need I was determined to satisfy even if it killed me.

The sharp pain that ran through me the moment I thought that was almost unbearable.

Almost.

But I was underwater with a thrashing body and even the pain wasn't much compared to the desperate need for oxygen.

Sasuke was holding onto my shirt and it occurred to me that he'd had the same idea.

But somehow, dying down here on my first day of school wasn't all that appealing.

I kicked him in the gut and swam to the surface where I gasped, taking in lungful of needed air.

He appeared next to me a second later. "YOU ASSHOLE!"

I blinked innocently at him, laughing at how silly he looked all wet with his hair falling limply over his face. "What?"  
Before he could say anything, we were both grabbed and pulled bodily out of the water.

"ARE YOU BOTH INSANE?"

Huh.

When did Itachi get here?

He looked irritated.

I pointed at his brother. "Sasuke did it."

Sasuke's eyes went wide as my friends all nodded, supporting me.

Itachi huffed impatiently. "If you two fight again, I will see to it that you repeat your school year."

We blinked.

Did he have that kind of power?

"Yes," he smirked. "I have that kind of power. Now, try to get along so we don't have to go through the situation at dinnertime again."

I sighed and glared at Sasuke, nodding at Itachi before I moved to sit back down with my friends who were all holding back amused smiles.

Sasuke sat down by his friends and with the wave of his hand, a moment later he was completely dry and his hair was back up.

The small group of students who'd gotten up to watch our five-minute brawl all sighed in disappointment and went back to their blankets and continued to watch the fireworks.

"Er…Sakura?"

Sakura smiled and pulled out a wand from the sleeve of her blouse.

She aimed it at me without much of a spell.

I stared down at my dry clothes and spotted Sasuke's book.

It lay innocently on the blanket. I had no idea how it had gotten back over here but it didn't matter.

I spotted Itachi being led by a lantern as he walked back to the castle and I motioned to Sasuke who glared at me.

I waved his book at him and with all the force I could muster, threw it into the lake.

A few students cheered while others told Sasuke to fight me.

But the weird thing was they were all sending me pleased, approving smiles; even those who were supposedly cheering Sasuke on.

I looked at Sasuke and noticed he seemed to be getting the very same looks.

I didn't get it.

They were treating us like we'd just won something and I couldn't help the feeling that it was something stupid.

Like a keychain.

I sighed and drew my attention back to the fireworks that hadn't stopped to watch my awesome thrashing of the bastard.

Lying down on the blanket, I noticed Gaara was staring at one of the girls who'd been eyeing him at dinner. Sakura was talking to Hinata and Kiba was trying valiantly to sneak a peak down Hinata's shirt from the most advantageous angle.

Tired of just receiving shy/seductive smiles, Gaara stood and walked toward the girl.

I sighed when I saw that Sakura hadn't paid any attention to Gaara.

Oh well.

I leaned back on my hand to sit up and winced. Lifting it to the light, I saw a small cut there and I scowled.

I hated getting hurt.

Hell, I was lucky Gaara was so preoccupied with the girl that he hadn't noticed my blood. Usually the tiniest of paper cuts would have him at my side with a straw before any blood even made its way out.

I watched the redhead's progress as he talked to the girl.

He was looking her in the eye, completely ignoring all her friends and talking in that natural slow drawl of his. She smiled widely and nodded before taking his hand. He helped her up and they walked a short way away to where most of the other people were dancing.

I rolled my eyes at the poor naïve girl.

There was a time I'd doubted Gaara's mad skills but now I was satisfied to just watch him at work.

While one would assume that the girl's friends would take offence at being ignored, the truth was that even though they'd try to make him seem like a jerk for doing that, they all craved his attention.

They would wonder if maybe they could look better and catch his eye or if maybe they should try talk to _him_ or something…and then, when he'd talk to them, they'd be so thrilled they'd show off and the others would work even harder at getting him to notice them.

It was weird but even though Gaara could be a jerk, when he wanted to be, he was a perfect gentleman (to girls who seemed to fall for those).

I was wondering how long it would take him to make a move on her when he suddenly leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed furiously and started to mumble- probably saying something about the many children they'd have and how she wanted a white wedding.

Oh well. There goes another one.

Gaara had that effect on girls. They just seemed to fall at his feet and, as if via some ancestor's witch blood running through their veins, their clothes would disappear… like magic.

To think that I'd once believed Gaara was a virgin…

I looked back up at the fireworks and shuffled closer to Sakura. It was chilly and she was warm. So sue me.

A figure dropped by me and I stared down at them before I shuffled away, almost falling into the water before Sakura tugged be back impatiently.

Sakura was eyeing the girl who'd appeared with distaste while Hinata somehow managed to look extremely uninterested with her presence.

"Would you like to dance, Naruto?"

I stared incredulously at the girl. "Er… how do you-"

"Oh come on," she chuckled. "The Kerner from dinner? Of course I'd bother finding out who you were."

The girl smiled softly. She had spiky red hair and brown eyes, smooth skin and a great figure.

I'm a guy. I notice these things.

"Thanks but uh…" I shook my head, motioning at Sakura and giving her a pleading look.

She smiled politely at the redhead.

"I'm really sorry but he's my date for the night."

The redhead pouted and sat up, choosing instead to sit right by me.

"Fine. Let's talk then."

That caught me by surprise and even Hinata seemed alittle confused by that. Sakura however, had no problem with her 'date' talking to someone else.

I swear, the next times she's on a date, I'm going to hire girls to keep interrupting. Or just invite our parents to go over there with her potty-training home videos.

The girl kept flashing me strange smiles and I stared at her in confusion.

"Uh, sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"Everything," she beamed. "You seem pretty interesting and I guess I wanna know what you're about."

"I seem interesting?" It wasn't news. But it was nice to hear over and over again.

"Yes. Especially your kerning."

"You know I didn't do that on purpose right?" I asked slowly.

She nodded. "No duh."

"Um, okay… Well, what kind of monster are you?"

She smiled slowly. "Succubus."

"Oh."

Succubus.

The nympho of the monster world.

I wasn't sure if that meant she wanted my sexy self or if all the pre-raping/talking she was doing was just how she made friends.

"I'm Karin, by the way."

I nodded. Karin, the nymphomaniac.

Every so often, she'd look away and make a face at someone.

"What year are you in?"

"Third."

"Cool."

"Yeah," she turned abit. "It is."

Sakura was once again, talking to Hinata having decided that Karin was harmless and not worth a hex.

No one was watching Gaara and I saw him and the girl heading back toward the castle.

Dammit.

That bastard was going to ruin university for _everyone_.

I stood hurriedly and turned away from Karin. She pouted but when I apologized, she kindly let me leave.

Hell, I'd probably served the purpose of being her trophy chat partner or something so no worries.

I ran between the many blankets, rushed toward the couple and grabbed Gaara.

The girl he was with looked at me in surprise. Sure, she was hot and sure, I should have been proud of Gaara but at the moment, all I could think of was that this was Sakura's job and I wasn't qualified to do it.

I needed to save the poor girl from Gaara.

"Hey," I smiled at her.

She blushed and mumbled a 'Hey' back.

Ugh, I was at a complete loss as to what to do. And Gaara could tell.

He was smirking.

The _bastard_.

"Er…" I thought fast. "Don't leave with him."

She blinked. "What?"

Ah shit.

Think fast…think fast…

"I…uh, I really like you-"

"Fuuka," Gaara provided helpfully.

"-Fuuka," I said, sending him an irritated look. "I really like you, Fuuka, so please dance with me…?"

She blushed and looked at Gaara in askance.

He smiled softly at her and she melted.

Damn his bedroom eyes!

I stepped closer to her.

"I won't fight him for you if you just dance with me…"

She seemed surprised by that but nodded barely when Gaara just shrugged.

I shot Gaara a dark look when I noticed he was already scouting another girl but I needn't have bothered. Sakura showed up by my side, sent me a sympathetic look and moved on to swiftly reprimand Gaara.

She hated babysitting the vampire but he was a danger to the virtue of girls everywhere.

I was going to kill Gaara later.

But at least for the moment, I was dancing with a pretty girl and could completely forget that I was betrothed to an asshole.

And really, that was all that mattered.

I returned Fuuka to her friends afterward and thankfully, she didn't seek Gaara out.

She'd probably just realized I'd saved her virtue or something.

I was making my way back to my friends when a hand grabbed my arm roughly.

Honestly! What is it with people here? Is there no concern for personal space at all?

I looked down at the hand and followed it up to its owner.

He had dark red hair, dark eyes and many piercing.

He was older than me but not by much, maybe about nineteen.

As grudgingly as I could, I had to admit he was kind of not-bad-looking and I could hear Sakura whispering for me to bring him over.

I yanked my arm from his grip.

"Is something wrong?"

His eyes searched mine for what seemed like a terribly long (and gay) time before he smiled warmly at me.

Which was weird cause the people around us sort of backed away and I felt the need to face-palm.

Was he going to fight me, too?

Hadn't the rules just been read a few hours ago? Did no one listen to them?

Hell, why was everyone and their grandma trying to fight me?

I'd apparently managed to pick fights with three people on my first day here.

Man, I was on a roll.

The guy looked down at me and grabbed my hand before lifting it to the light.

He stared at me and it took a while before I realized he was looking at the cut there. The blood had dried.

"Can I _help _you?" I asked, trying to pry my hand away.

He chuckled and spoke.

"Yes please."

His voice was deep and soothing and I shivered, suddenly feeling chilly.

I stared at him, as if in a trance and he stared back.

All in all, this was a very gay moment and I could hear Kiba gagging in the background.

I knew my friends had my back but seeing as how there wasn't exactly any killer intent or intent of any kind emanating from this guy, I figured they'd watch and wait like everyone else.

The boy stepped closer and smirked.

Behind him, wings sprouted, much like Neji's from earlier but they were different.

They were black.

The sheer size of them amazed me and-

I stepped back in surprise.

He'd just licked my hand.

He'd just freakin' **licked** my hand!

I stared at him, jaw slack before my brain processed my next line of action.

A swift kick to the gut.

He fell and clutched at his stomach before straightening out and smiling softly at my murderous gaze.

His wings folded back and vanished and he bowed before me.

"My name is Pein. It's nice to meet you."

I sputtered in indignation as he said his next words.

"May I have this dance?"

**(I am an angry page break. FEEL MY RASH!)**

Sasuke watched Karin talk with Naruto and rolled his eyes.

Karin knew he was watching or else she wouldn't have bothered putting up a show.

Every few seconds, she'd shoot Sasuke a suggestive glance or something, unconcerned by the fact that Naruto could see her and didn't seem to particularly care.

Yeah, like _that_ would get his attention.

"Stop moping, you retard. This is a party."

He turned to the girl next to him and scowled at her.

Long auburn hair was tied back and expressive lavender eyes were clearly telling him he was a douche.

"Leave me alone, Tayuya."

The girl took a sip of her slushy, ignoring him while she pointed at another girl, something she'd been doing since they got there. "What about that one?"

Beside her, Tenten shook her head. "No, she stuffed her bra."

"So what?" Tayuya said, affronted. "Sasuke needs to get laid. I don't think we should be too picky."

"There's Karin…" Tenten suggested, nodding at the girl who was with Naruto.

"Why not just let me inject the herpes into his system _now_?"

Sasuke had long ago decided to get new friends but as luck would have it, all the friends he had were self-declared. They'd all practically walked up to him at one point or another and declared their 'undying friendship with the emo boy'. Shikamaru was the only exception.

"Well, this day has really been interesting."

Ah, yes. Neji. _Another _imposed friend.

Neji stretched and sat down in the grass off the blanket. "I'm exhausted."

"Why? You were attacking freshmen again?" Tenten asked disapprovingly.

Neji smirked. "It's a timeless tradition. Besides, my roommate's a vampire."

Sasuke smirked at Neji's slightly tensed look.

"I swear sometimes I think Tsunade _wants _to get me expelled."

"We all do," Tayuya pointed out. "Your bipolar ass is dangerous."

Neji huffed impatiently and stared out at the lake.

His eyes widened when he saw his roommate with the fourth year heartbreaker, Fuuka.

"Impressive. Fuuka's actually talking to a guy."

They all turned.

"Wow," Tayuya grinned. "Isn't he the hot guy from before? Sasuke's man-crush's friend or something…?" She paused. "Freshman?"

"Fresh meat," Neji corrected. "_That's_ my roommate. Vampire."

"Even hotter. Is 'Vampire' his given name or are you just being sweet?"

Neji snorted. "Gaara."

"Suits him."

They watched Gaara work his magic and after approximately two minutes and sixteen seconds- Tenten timed it- Gaara leaned in and kissed a willing Fuuka.

The girls cheered while Neji's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"He must have done something to her…"

Tenten laughed. "Tch, jealous much?"

When the pair headed toward the castle, Sasuke was almost impressed.

Except for him, no guy had ever talked to Fuuka without being shot down. Granted, he'd talked to her just to prove that he could but still…it had been his record and now, his idiot mate's vampire friend was all over her…and apparently on his way to getting laid.

Until Naruto interrupted.

When Sasuke looked, he saw Karin smiling sweetly at him. Grimacing, he turned back to the blond.

Did they _always _baby-sit the vampire?

Sasuke watched the blond speak and after a moment, return to the crowd with Fuuka, and her virginity still intact.

The vampire, Gaara, was now being dragged around by their pink-haired friend.

She'd stop every few seconds to exclaim something, wave a fist in the vampire's face and then continue dragging him along.

Naruto finished dancing with Fuuka, kissed her hand and walked her to her friends who were shooting the girl jealous looks and smiling warmly at Naruto.

He left her, bowed and walked back to his friends, completely unaware of the many pairs of eyes that watched him go.

Sasuke could see that their little group was getting almost as much attention as his did. Every year seemed to have their star players, a group of people who excelled naturally and were unceremoniously popular. They were monsters everyone believed would make a difference one day.

Sasuke frowned.

A world war was as good a difference as any.

He despised being at Konoha University.

Itachi had been there and because of that self-righteous prick, everyone expected him to be just as good, or better, as his perfect older brother.

How the hell did one compete with perfection?

He really couldn't figure it out unless he destroyed everything and somehow came up with a new world where the expectations of perfection were relatively lower.

Great. He was thinking like a terrorist dictator.

He sighed and went back to watching the second years his idiot mate was friends with.

They were the new _in _thing.

Anyone could tell.  
According to the other years, one of them had proved to be on par with the higher students just by _Kerning _and now, there they were, a complete mix of monsters, hanging out together. Wolf, vampire, animagus and witch.

And now, with Neji's cousin, an angel.

A group of monsters that were supposed to, by default, hate each other, were standing in the short grass, chatting away like old friends.

Sasuke was getting irritated with all the looks being thrown his way by people who were then turning back to give the same looks at the blond.

They wanted to know exactly what had happened to make the two hate each other so much.

But Sasuke had already made sure they didn't.

The Namikaze boy knew enough to keep his mouth shut if he didn't want to get killed by non-Sasuke means and Sasuke was not at all considering having the whole school find out his mate just happened to be a boy.

Especially not that idiot.

**No one **was going to find out they were betrothed.

Sasuke stifled a yawn, got up and walked away, ignoring Tayuya and Tenten's cat calls.

Sasuke was sick of all the hype they were given.

People concentrated mostly on looks and power, prestige and rank.

It was sickening.

He felt a sudden spike in Naruto's chakra and turned to face the boy.

He was glaring at an older boy, who Sasuke quickly recognised, and looking positively murderous.

Maybe the night wouldn't be all bad.

Sasuke watched as the fourth year, Pein, held onto Naruto's hand.

He could see the predatory gleam in the older boy's eyes and smirked.

The Uchiha wished he had a box of popcorn and a coke, just to watch the show.

Either Naruto was going to get his ass handed to him, or Pein was going to die.

It was a win-win situation.

He'd never really liked Pein anyway and Naruto wasn't a half-bad fighter.

Sasuke shook his head.

Complimenting the idiot?

When had he stooped so low?

Tenten and Tayuya were placing bets already and Shikamaru had turned to face the other way, uninterested in whatever was happening. Neji was quietly watching Sasuke, almost as if waiting for a reaction.

There was another hush as people backed away from Naruto and Pein.

When Pein lifted the blond's hand to his lips and licked the skin there, Sasuke couldn't help the feeling of something solid falling into the pit of his stomach.

Indigestion, he figured.

Behind the pair. The vampire was looking absolutely livid at the fact that Pein had just licked his friend's blood.

Sasuke was hard-pressed to say whether it was because he was angry for his friend or because he wanted to do that himself.

The Uchiha tried to hide his amusement when a loud 'Oomph!' came from Pein, courtesy of Naruto's foot.

His stomach felt lighter and he rubbed at it absently.

Stupid indigestion.

However, even with his upset gut, he couldn't hide the angry growl that escaped him when Pein slowly straightened himself out and said his next words.

"May I have this dance?"

Sasuke felt a hand on his arm and looked at Shikamaru who had somehow decided to wake up.

Neji was smirking at him and Sasuke pulled his hand out of Shikamaru's grip.

He scowled at them and turned back to face the scene, flinching when Naruto bristled.

"I AM **NOT **GAY, YOU RETARD!"

Sasuke coughed into his hand while the crowd laughed openly and relaxed.

Pein watched Naruto go with a soft smile on his face and scanned the crowd.

His eyes met Sasuke's and the Uchiha tensed.

Pein nodded at him, a smirk firmly in place as he mouthed something at Sasuke.

Sasuke abruptly stood and walked away.

Neji and Shikamaru watched him go before turning back to the fireworks.

They all had class in the morning.

But it wasn't like coffee wasn't present in their world.

This was going to be their most entertaining school year, they could tell.

And the Namikaze boy was definitely someone to watch out for.

**X-=-X**

**Next Chapter: Classes Begin…**

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	6. Classes, clashes and claptrap cases

**Destined**

by Rizember

**Summary: **Life was supposed to be easier once his mate was chosen but why the hell did it have to be him? Humor, Supernatural, SasuNaru

**Chapter 6: Classes, clashes and other claptrap cases**

A/N: BEHOLD! AN UPDATE!

**For mu149 and blue drop ;)**

**Who faithfully bug me to update with reviews**

**Beta'ed by: **[UnBeta'ed]

**Disclaimer:** yaddee yadda, I own nadda…

**Naruto's POV**

I woke up and I died.

That was how my morning began. Really, it was more of a series of successive heart attacks.

It turns out that Monday mornings in the magical world are just like Monday mornings in the human world. They suck ass.

Mondays are raging lunatics that plan vicious and brutal ways to shove cumbersome objects up innocent people's behinds.

Metaphorically, of course.

There I was, sleeping soundly in my warm bed after a night of partying (if that was what I could call what I was doing last night), battling for my life and blood, _and_ saving girls' innocence from a vampire-

At the rate I was going, I deserved a medal in honour of my greatness. Hell, I was half expecting marvel comics to run in and beg me for the rights to my life story. Or my life story in the past three days.

But I digress.

I was sleeping peacefully, minding my own business when a loud, popping unending bang rang through my room causing two unusual things to happen: Me falling off my bed and simultaneously having a heart attack.

I scrambled up off the floor, obviously not having received any 'how not to die during a bombing' training and leaped back onto my bed. Where there was a small green snake.

Taking a moment to keep my inner little girl from screaming, I chose instead to stare at the snake -that was staring groggily back at me- and have another heart attack.

I was clutching at my chest and failing to breathe, as I glanced around, ready to cry for help to my older, wiser, probably-able-to-deal-with-serpents-better-than-me roommate.

It was then that I had my third heart attack.

Itachi was in a facial mud mask, shaving his legs.

I had _never _been so unprepared for a morning so…

I died.

…

Okay, I _passed out_. Same difference.

And I made damn sure I stayed unconscious until Itachi's legs were smooth and the snake had mysteriously vanished.

When I came to, I was looking up at the ceiling and making sure all my body parts were functioning and not all emptying themselves through my bladder.

I shifted and glanced out the window from my comfy place on the floor and noted that it was still dark.

No, not the darkness before dawn.

Just _darkness_.

I turned around and inspected my surroundings, jumping back whenever I suspected there was anything vaguely snake-y about them. Itachi watched me silently from his bed, having properly finished his feminine grooming.

A moment later, I was glaring at the smug looking bastard and holding up a whole string of used up firecrackers.

I growled. "What the hell are _these_?"

Itachi looked at them briefly. "Used firecrackers."

Before I could properly launch myself at him and show him _used firecrackers_, I heard a soft hiss and looked down.

And then, yes, Monday morning horror number four.

The same snake from earlier was coiled around my ankle.

Now, you may be wondering how exactly I didn't notice that.

Hell, I was wondering the same thing- but with the added bonus of hysterical panic and short flashes of my life.

"Calm down."

Oh, for a vampire to have at my disposal who'd willingly suck Itachi dry…

It was obvious that bastardry runs in the Uchiha family.

"Yesss. Calm down."

Oh crap.

Itachi was smirking. His mouth had been closed.

I looked down at the snake whose yellow eyes were boring eerily into mine and then back up at Itachi, who _still_ had a smug look on his face.

The snake had just talked to me?

Wait…

Oh. My. Gosh.

Itachi's a ventriloquist!

I knew there was something creepy about him. It made so much sense now! Robotic puppet snakes and him being the truest form of an alcoholic all made sense to me now!

I'd admit I'd been alittle weirded out when I got to my room last night and found Itachi sleeping soundly as he cradled a bottle of vodka to his face, much like a girl would do with a teddy bear.

"Are you okay?"

"Quit that," I snapped at Itachi. "It's creepy."

"Kaori's talking to you," he said dryly.

I blanched when I saw my ankle was freed of any slithering menaces and I sighed in relief, brushing my hand through my hair before screaming like a five year old girl in a frilly pink dress. The snake was coiled around my arm.

Which was why I then proceeded to wave my arm like mad, yell for Itachi to get it off and jump up and down in a futile effort to kill it. Yeah, that last bit had me stumped too.

Itachi walked up to me, tripped me and sighed condescendingly when I glared at him weakly from the ground, still somewhat wary of the deadly beast resting snuggly on my arm.

"He's one of my summons," Itachi said.

I blinked.

Summons.

I remembered my mom mentioning something like that.

In Konoha, summons were like pets. Animals that could be called for help, companionship or whatever else their summoner thought up. The difference between the two however, was that while people with pets could have them do tricks and get rewarded with treats, summons tended to have personalities of their own, could speak and were usually obedient.

Usually.

Witches and wizards' summons were called familiars and most of the time, witches formed bonds with just one instead of the many at their disposal. I'm not sure about warlocks though. I'd have to ask Sasori.

The important bit of info however, was the fact that summons rarely ever killed anyone unless expressly told to do so. And I hadn't heard Itachi saying anything particularly murderous.

Thoroughly calmed but still majorly creeped out, I faced the snake on my arm.

It hissed and for some reason, I got the impression it was smirking at me.

"No duh."

I looked down at it, wondering who it was talking to.

"Okay, firssst, I'm a guy and sssecond, I wasss talking to you, you idiot."

Ah, what a charming little thing.

Itachi chuckled.

Just a second…

My eyes widened.

It's psychic?

Itachi shrugged while the snake just tightened around my arm.

"You're warm," it said sleepily.

"You're a snake," I countered uneasily.

Itachi smirked again when he saw me and his summon staring each other down.

"It's almost dawn. You must be ready, classes begin at eight and you have to get your things."

"It's four in the morning," I retorted, less wary of the serpent on my arm. "Why the hell would you see fit to scare me to death at four in the morning?"

"I was going to be busy at five."

"Lovely."

I muttered curses and insults, moving into my closet to grab my stuff before entering the bathroom.

Hell, I probably wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.

I could already see all the likely nightmares featuring unpleasant motion picture-worthy views of Itachi's legs. It wasn't fair.

One Uchiha plagued me in the day (and quite possibly for the rest of my life) and the other had just managed to screw up all likelihood of me having pleasant dreams. Ever.

Low growls filled the air and I felt a chill run across my spine.

I moved cautiously to the window and peered out into the darkness.

Dragons.

I saw dragons, all of them surrounding the area outside our dormitories.

I motioned excitedly to Itachi and he came to the window.

Looking out, he stifled a yawn. "What?"  
"Dragons. Outside!" I hissed, letting him know that the dangerous creatures that were quite capable of eating young, vulnerable freshmen like Sakura (not me) were currently forming a sort of barbecue circle outside with our hostels as the unlucky roast.

Strange. I would have never guessed that this would be how I'd die. I'd always figured I'd somehow get caught in the crossfire when a beefy woman was trying to kill my perverted grandfather and he used me as a shield.

Why the hell was Itachi not panicking?

Was he not drunk enough to function properly?

"That's the morning wake up call."  
I paused. "Those blood thirsty beasts outside are here to wake us up?"

"Yes."

"This is a university. We don't all have classes in the morning, do we?"

Itachi smiled. "You do on Mondays. It's Tsunade's way of making sure you all realize that Mondays are a bitch in the real world. Most other days, you'll probably have almost all your classes after 11."  
"Isn't that abit late?"  
"Lecturers have lives, too. And they need to nurse the hangovers of those lives."

"Till 11?"

"Maybe 12," Itachi said, looking fondly at his vodka.

I rolled my eyes at that and went back to watching the dragons. I moved closer to the window and could see other students- obviously of the braver variety- sticking their heads out. A few were even telling the dragons to fuck off so they could get some sleep. I think those were suicidal second years.

After about ten minutes, the dragons all decided they'd kept us from going back to sleep and flew away towards the mountains I knew were in the distance.

I went into the bathroom, locking the door behind me, and got ready for my first day of class.

**(I am a magical pimp page break. Abraca-hoochie-mama!)**

Breakfast was less exciting than dinner. At least for me.

Kiba was making impatient noises and gestures, attempting to get me and Gaara to hurry along with him to Dayan Square. His roommate was behind us, walking with the green enthusiast Lee.

Gaara walked leisurely just to piss him off while I was making my way slowly so as to avoid seeing Sasuke there.

I could already feel his chakra signature. He wasn't too far away from me.

I went into the hall and sat where I had the previous day. Sasori spotted me and nodded, saying good morning as he sat down by my side. Kiba was sitting opposite me, next to Sakura and Hinata who would no doubt make sure that if he even _tried _to sneak under the table, it would be the last thing he did.

Gaara was once again, sitting by me and staring at my neck.

I sighed and faced him. "Isn't there some girl you should be making googly eyes at?"

Instead of doing what he usually would- smile and say no- he edged closer.

"You know, your scent gets stronger when you're emotionally distressed," he said.

I glared at him before placing a hand on his chest and pushing him back out of my personal space.

"Gaara-"

"That demon licked you yesterday."

My eyes widened. "That Pein guy?"

Gaara nodded.

Oh. So Pein was a demon. I could almost see what Hinata meant when she said that demons were like the angels but evil. Except that apart from Pein's wings being black and him being an asshole, I couldn't really say he was _evil_.

"He tasted your blood."

I glanced at Gaara, surprised.

His eyes were a darker shade of green and I could see that he was angry but there was something out of place there…

Jealousy?

"Gaara," I sighed. "It's not like I _gave_ him my hand to lick. And it was a small cut, the blood had dried anyway. I'm sure the only reason _you_ hadn't noticed it was probably cause you were too busy trying to get laid on your first day," I smirked. "Sorry about that by the way."

Gaara smirked right back. "No need to apologize."

I gaped, understanding. "What? When? With _who_?"

He simply shrugged and went back to staring at my neck.

I decided to ignore him and watched as Kiba got smacked when he tried to surreptitiously slide down his seat.

Tch, idiot.

The professors came in front their own entrance and sat at the front, like always.

Tsunade stood and shot a look that promised death at Kiba and that Suigetsu guy who was seated not too far from us.

The waiters and waitresses came in again and places trays, bowls and chaffing dishes on our tables before uncovering them and leaving.

I placed food onto my plate before looking up at Hinata.

She raised an eyebrow at me and I cleared my throat.

"So, Hinata," I started. "Would you mind telling me what it was like growing up in Konoha?"

She seemed surprised by my question but nodded.

"It was as boring as the human world, which I've visited on occasion, but really, my life is ordinary."  
Beside her, Sakura snorted.

"Ordinary my ass. Hinata's family is one of the most prominent of the angels. Like your pack," Sakura nodded at me. "Her family is one of the leaders of all the angels in Konoha."

"What does that mean?" I asked Hinata.

She shrugged. "It means endless hours of training to kill monsters like yourselves," she said, looking from me to Gaara and back to me. "They tried to teach us that while we could be civil toward you, we should never hesitate to rip your hearts out."

Gaara seemed impressed. "Really?"

Hinata nodded. "Although, like I said, we have treaties. The demons however…"  
She trailed off, glaring in the distance.

I looked in the same direction and saw the fifth year table.

Pein was sitting there. He smiled slowly and raised his glass at me in a silent cheers.

The light flowing in from the window shone brightly on his dark red hair and off the many piercings on his ears. I noticed a few girls watching him wistfully and snorted. They could have him. He waved his other hand lazily in my direction and a tulip rose from the bouquet on his table and floated over to me.

Beside me, Gaara let out a small growl.

I caught the flower, smiled at him and stomped on it. Childish, but oh so gratifying.

Hinata shook her head and sighed. "I really wish I could have killed him for you yesterday. I'm sorry."  
I smiled, amused at her loyalty. "Er…yeah, thanks. It's alright though."  
I saw Gaara give Hinata an appraising glance before they seemed to both look away.

No idea what that was about.

"So anyway," Hinata continued, picking the tomatoes from her sandwich. "Life isn't exciting as an angel. Most monsters don't exactly like us. They tend to fear and respect us but it would be foolish to assume they actually enjoy our company."

I nodded. "So what's the deal with your cousin?"

She hid a smile as she took a sip of her orange juice. "Well, he's from the branch family which makes him third in line for the position of head. He has to obey my orders."

"That must suck."

She shrugged. "Better him than me. We'd be at war if he had his way anyway. And he's a pretentious prick."

I chuckled and Sakura sputtered. It seemed strange hearing Hinata say those words.

She ignored our reactions and tucked a stray strand of hair from her eyes.

I could feel Sasuke all through breakfast but made sure not to meet his gaze or think too hard about how satisfying killing him would be. He seemed to be making the same effort if our lack of kerning was any indication.

There was a loud whistle and we all turned to see Tsunade move her fingers from her mouth- _honestly_, was she a witch or not? –and she waved her white wand at us.

Sheets of paper appeared by our plates.

"Those are your class schedules. All first years will be taken to their classes for the duration of this week by their DRs and are expected to know their classes and lecturers by the end of the week.

Any envelopes next to your plates are your letters. As Konoha University is significantly isolated and you are here to _study_, all letters will be magically delivered to your rooms or here at breakfast. To reply, simply write a letter, address it correctly and place them in the located in your suites. They will be delivered, once again, yes indeed, by magic."

I wondered if she was taunting the students who must have grown up with humans- basically, me.

I picked my schedule up and quickly scanned it, sighing in relief.

Itachi wasn't lecturing any of my classes.

I grinned at him triumphantly from my seat and he smirked, mouthing '_next year'_ at me. I grimaced.

So he was taking second year classes.

Damn.

Maybe I could get him fired at the end of the year.

After breakfast, Sasori yelled at all the first years to follow him. I asked him if he was the only dorm representative but he shook his head and told me that there were two others who would arrive later that day, Ino and Chouji. He said they always got to school a day late.

He walked us across the large courtyard to the large section of the castle that was at the far end, connected to the dormitories.

"This wing of the castle is called Tridant."

He explained that behind it, was a whole _other_ castle, used by third, fourth and fifth years for their classes, which was called Emirés. Second years and first years weren't allowed there at all.

Finally, we came up to a large pair of dark ebony doors and Sasori pushed them open.

He nodded at me.

"Good luck."

I smiled and thanked him, earning another surprised look from him before he muttered something and walked away.

We walked into the large, cold lecture hall, pulling our scarves and sweaters closer. The walls were grey and depressing.

I shivered as I walked up the steps, following Kiba who had decided that we should take the seats way at the back. I didn't mind. Sakura frowned but followed us up the steps. Hinata didn't seem to care either way. Her attitude reminded me of Gaara and for a moment, I wondered if she was his female incarnate. It would explain so many things- except for the fact that she didn't acknowledge any of the guys who looked at her, smiled or tried to get her attention. Impressive.

I looked around at the other students and saw quite a few of them having completely non-human traits. There was a girl with small wings on her back that were flapping pointlessly and a guy whose lower half looked like it was part of a goat. One had horns, Hinata explained that she was a diclonius; a rare monster species with pink hair, various eye colours and who were insanely strong and had invisible arms. That was cool. The girl looked over at us, smiled shyly when Kiba winked at her, and turned back to talk to the goat boy. She had hidden the small horns on her head with ribbons. Most of us though, looked significantly human and I supposed we were the ones who could easily fit in in the human world.

When we were all seated and talking in hushed tones, the doors opened again and a man glided in, walking to the front and turning to us with practiced grace.

The man at the front, our professor, I assumed, had long dark hair and eyes that seemed to glint yellow even though I could clearly see that they were black. His skin was pale and he was surprisingly tall, wearing formal clothes and motioning for us to come in and sit down. His eyes, slanted and small, reminded me of Kaori and I shivered for a moment.

He smiled slowly at us, a smirk really and waved his hand in the air.

Droplets of water immediately began to fall on him, like rain, from nowhere and he moved around. The rain fell on him but he didn't seem to be getting wet. Lightning flashed and there was a soft rumble of thunder causing the more skittish girls to squeal and squirm.

"I am Professor Orochimaru," he said, his voice a deep drawl. "Welcome to Elements 101. Here, you will learn to control the elements, the elementals and by the end of the year, maybe even your bladders.

If your brains contain half the matter you assume they do, you will understand the reasons the cycles of the moon affect many monsters. You will know what to do when confronted with weather spells and you will use the seasons to your advantage.

Can anyone name a monster and season, weather or element that affects it?"  
Sakura put up her hand and I heard Kiba groan.

"Name and answer please," Orochimaru said, politely.

"Sakura Haruno. Werewolves are influenced by the full moon. It affects their ability to transform."

Orochimaru nodded, seeming pleased with her answer. "With the exception of Phasors, of course. Anyone else?"

When no one else volunteered, he pointed at Kiba. "You there."

"Me?"

"No, the brick wall behind you, yes _you_."  
Kiba shrugged. "Kiba Inuzuka. Mermaids need water."

Orochimaru sighed, as if Kiba's answer pained him. "I suppose that counts as an answer given that very few of them are actually capable of walking on land."

He turned and then pointed in my direction. My heart stopped as I prepared to say '_I don't_ _know'_ when Gaara answered, removing his lips from his straw but not putting his glass down. His lips were stained dark red.

"Vampires are invincible in a snow storm," he answered, his fangs showing when he smirked.

_Wow_. I stared hard at him. Really?

Orochimaru chuckled, low and amused. "I suppose you noticed that from experience, Mr.…?"

"Gaara Subaku."  
Orochimaru blinked and then nodded, turning away and directing the question at other students before he decided that they knew enough for him to continue.

"Monsters have tried over time to change their dependence on the elements or the seasons. There was a time wolves wished to be controlled by the moon, wishing for there to only be a short time when they could change and hurt their loved ones before they learned control. Their evolution brought forth the Phasors.

Vampires were once ruled by the sun and were known to be greatly affected when in sunlight. While the effects never included sparkling _or_ melting as the humans believed, vampires were known to have started singing off-key, flashed their bits at respectable old ladies and even started rallies for causes they made up, like the '_Right to hug whomever we please_ convention of 1562'. They developed a cure to the madness that they endured from staying in the sun and now the bloodsuckers walk amoung us and are perfectly normal."

Gaara chuckled at that while Sakura shot the Professor an unamused glance.

"There was a time when succubae and incubi would transform every night but like wolves and vampires, they learned to control their powers and are now able to rape and pillage in the daytime, just like they always wanted."

A few people laughed.

"Witches, wizards and warlocks were once known to be affected by water but studies showed that those were just people who had no wish to bathe and wanted a reason to grant the rest of us with their stench.

For those of you who have not educated yourselves in the differences between warlocks and wizards, I will grant a piece of information. Warlocks and wizards, while both possessing magic like witches, are greatly different because of one fact. Wizards are psychotic bastards.

Wizards are paranoid and tend to attack anything with a pulse, always believing that someone is out to get them because of their power. Wizards are born wizards and warlocks are born warlocks so the insanity is purely hereditary. However, wizards are still maintained as useful members of society, no matter how much we protest or how many times we send one to jail for attacking the mailman."

_Oh_.

It kinda made sense.

Orochimaru went on to explain the many ways elements affect other monsters, giving examples and asking questions. He seemed like a fair lecturer and his class was interesting so even though I listened and made sympathetic noises when Sakura said he was a prejudiced man, I still agreed with Gaara that he was kind of cool.

The doors opened when Orochimaru dismissed us and we found Sasori waiting to take us to our next class.

He smiled at me. "Alright?"

I nodded. "It was actually pretty cool."  
He chuckled. "Yeah, Orochimaru's okay. His tests are killer though."

I groaned. He patted my head and motioned for us to follow him up a flight of stairs. We kept going past all the floors and just when Kiba was moaning about elevators, we got to the roof.

"Why are we up here?" Sakura asked.

There were chairs arranged haphazardly and the carpeted floor had pillows in random places but all were facing the floating blackboard in front of us.

A man with a crazy ponytail and warm brown eyes smiled at us, motioning for us to move forward.

Sasori waved goodbye and went to his own class.

"There aren't enough seats, sir," the pink haired girl from earlier said. I hid a grin when Kiba said she must be Sakura's twin and that Sakura's horns were probably hidden underneath all her hair.

The man nodded. "If you're comfortable with taking the floor or pillows, please do. If you need a chair, I can conjure one up for you."

The girl smiled and nodded, plopping down onto a pillow next to her friend.

I was yanked down by Gaara onto the carpet without a pillow and frowned at him. He rolled his eyes at me while Sakura and Hinata grabbed some pillows and sat on them. Kiba was leaning on the low wall of the roof, staring over it before nodding and turning back to us. We could see the lake and our dorms from here. There was a line of students walking toward the other castle. I assumed they were fifth years when I saw dark red hair glinting in the sun.

I turned away quickly.

"Good morning freshmen. My name is Professor Iruka Umino and I will be your lecturer in A History of Monsters. I advise you all to collect your books from the library this afternoon and be prepared for the next lesson.

Today, we will mention, briefly, the many kinds of monsters, their similarities, those that are natural enemies and those that live in symbiosis.

In this class, you will come to know yourselves, your history and hopefully, understand your future."

Iruka waved his hand and the blackboard disappeared. In its place, a small dragon- as big as my head- was gliding, flapping its wings every few seconds to stay in flight.

"As we all know, dragons are the oldest monsters and possess the oldest magic."

I did not know that but I was glad he'd mentioned it.

"Over time, they have evolved and some became sentient beings and live amoung us. Others are capable of shape-shifting and they have been known to be able to see glimpses of the future."

The dragon flew around, flying in between us students with some, like Kiba, trying to swat at it. It returned to Iruka and was transformed into a wolf. The wolf leaped from the low wall onto the carpet and started to sniff the people there.

"Werewolves are greatly feared in the human world as they believe a bite will turn them into one. This was true many centuries ago but now, a bite is usually fatal as the werewolf, probably having a good reason to bite you in the first place, may not stop."

I grinned, throwing a mock-warning glance at Gaara who just snorted.

"Vampires," Iruka said pleasantly, flicking his hand and letting the wolf turn into a man with large black wings. "Have been classified as dark monsters along with demons. Depending on their innate power or chakra, vampires may possess strong black wings as well as the ability to turn into bats or crows. Some have been known to develop animagus powers, like Dracula before he was killed by his family for making himself known to the humans and terrorizing the human world."

The vampire, that had been hissing at a student, turned into a girl dressed in black with a broom. She zoomed around us on her broom.

"Witches, wizards and warlocks are amoung the most powerful of monsters. Along with vampires, wolves, demons and angels, they are able to use magic with simple thoughts. For most monsters, magic must be used after a bit of concentration and disrupting the concentration usually disrupts the magic. However for these monsters, the magic seems to be a permanent extension of themselves, much like chakra.

With their wands however, witches, wizards and warlocks are quite easily the fastest users of magic and can kill in less time than it would take a rampaging animagus to rip someone's throat out."

The witch turned into a girl with bright pink hair.

"Diclonius species are monsters with invisible hands capable of magic and assassinations."

He smiled at Sakura and she shook her head.

Iruka laughed. "The witch with the pink hair and the diclonius seated at the front can be differentiated by whether or not they have horns. Diclonius always do. Male diclonius however, are extremely rare."

Sakura seemed surprised that Iruka knew she was a witch and looked grudgingly impressed.

"Animagi-" Iruka continued, making the girl turn into a dog, then a cat, then a chipmunk. "Are able to turn into any animal they wish. Male animagi have been known to be extreme perverts."

Kiba whooped, apparently proud of himself.

The chipmunk stopped jumping on someone's head and turned into a tiny woman in a dress with small wings fluttering behind her.

"Fairies are distant relatives of pixies but not inclined to mischief unless they decide they are quiet bored. Fairies are usually benign and harmless and can use magic fairly well."

He waved his hands and the fairy turned into a dark cloud.

"Of course there are more monsters and we will learn about most of them during the semester.

Prejudices have arisen over time and given rise to classifications that are less than honorable.

In trying to separate monsters from each other, one Ignatius Trenan came up with dark, light and azure monsters.

He decided that any monsters that may crave blood, have powers that are easily capable of hurting others or have rituals involving the blood of others, should be classified as dark monsters. Dark monsters also included those that were misunderstood and frightening to others. These include vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, succubae, incubi and diclonius to mention a few. Light monsters tend to be called that merely because they are self-righteous and are enemies of the so-called dark monsters. These include angels, fairies,

The azure monsters were ones not classified as either dark or light because they had a mixture of characteristics of both. These include witches, animagi, death gods, dragons and human-monster half-breeds.

Trenan suggested a fourth classification in the even that it ever occurred. The monster-monster hybrid…a hybrid that in all our history had never existed because of prejudices, assumptions and a believed medical inability to live... Trenan believed that such a monster, while going against the nature of monsters to stick to themselves or unwittingly stray to humans, would have great power. Few hybrids that actually came into being ever lived long enough to be born.

In fact, only one has ever been recorded and is presently still alive."

Iruka's eyes strayed to mine and held.

"The Lorian, classified as a monster-monster hybrid."

He nodded at me and turned away, leaving me feeling strangely pleased.

And strangely mad at my parents for not telling me that I could have _died_. How irresponsible could they be? I'm not complaining cause my awesomeness was obviously responsible for helping me get born and everything but they could have _told_ me. I would have stopped asking for a baby brother ages ago.

I felt Gaara's hand grab my wrist and found him glaring at me.

"Calm down," he whispered, scowling at me. He was oddly pale. "Your scent just got stronger."

I nodded at him and breathed in deeply, trying to get my heart to slow down.

Iruka went on to explain about other monsters, pointing us out one-by-one and asking us to tell us what monster type we were so he could reveal our history and also, so he could have our names.

He was friendly and let us ask as many questions about ourselves and each other as we wanted.

He even let Kiba show off his transforming skills.

I was kind of disappointed when time was up.

We were dismissed and Iruka led us to Dayan for lunch, explaining that the second years had a class during our lunch hour and they would eat later. After lunch, we were led by a grumpy forth year to our next class.

We followed him to the end of the ground floor's hallway. He pointed at a large metal door.

We stared at him.

He sighed and opened it. "This is the first basement hall in Tridant."

We took his word for it and walked down the flight of stairs that were lit with candles.

It suddenly brightened, but not by much, to reveal a large hall that was lit with floating lamps.

The man who had read the rules to us yesterday after losing a bet was standing at the front.

He motioned impatiently for us to take our seats.

"My name," he said, waving his hand imperiously. "Is Professor Genma Shiranui."

He sighed.

"Alright turds, here's how it's gonna go. I'll talk, you'll listen. I'll ask questions and if you are not _positive_ that you know the answer, do not raise your hand and grace us all with your stupidity.

This is your Basic Defense class and I will hopefully try to teach you ways not to cry when you get your asses get kicked, because you will.

I will ensure that you learn the proper method to not shit in your pants when attacked and if I feel like it, I may even teach you a few defense maneuvers, both in physical sparring and in sarcasm.

Be sure to get all your 'Your Momma is so ugly-, Your Momma is so fat- and Your Momma is so stupid-'' handbooks from the library and return with them well studied because any monster worth his salt understands that insulting someone's mother is the lowest blow that can be achieved and yet, is still highly acceptable in battle. It is for this reason that you must learn to counter them."

He went on to explain the many ways monsters could rip each other to shreds.

He explained it all in such an amused tone that I couldn't help but feel that maybe he didn't exactly _want_ to be here.

"The _thrill_ vampires get when they rip out someone's jugular is close only to the orgasmic sensation wraiths get from eating people's innards…"

Finally, after almost two hours of him telling us all the bloody, gruesome ways we could kill each other, we were dismissed.

Gaara was the only one who left that class with a smile on his face, unlike the rest of us who were all looking squeamish and disgusted. Even Hinata looked unusually pale.

Sasori was waiting for us, leaning against the wall.

He stretched when he saw us.

We followed his outside to the fields near the lake.

He nodded at a large, buff man in a green leotard- I could feel my breakfast creeping up- and left us.

The man raised his hand and wrote his name in the air in bright green smoke.

Professor Gai Maito.

There was a foreboding, overly bright smile on his face.

"Good afternoon! It's great to see so many young, fit monsters!"

Lee whooped and Gai gave him a thumbs up.

I think I puked alittle in my mouth.  
"You are now attending Monster Gym! I accept no sick notes, doctor's notes or general whining! You must be bleeding almost to death with the sweat of youth before I even consider sending you to the nurse's office! This class is compulsory because of the rise in fat monsters over the past decade and embarrassingly, most of them were our graduates!"

No more words were given, except for the many shouts of-

"My grandmother can run faster than that!"  
"Oi, vampire! You better finish your lap before you finish your juice!"

And-

"If you try turn into a horse and try to cheat again, Inuzuka, I will saddle and ride you for the rest of your laps."

Yeah. I definitely puked alittle after hearing that.

Gaara was jogging at a leisurely pace, winking at girls as they ran past him. They smiled back, some blowing kisses at him as they went.

I jogged by his side. "I hate this."

He was still looking at some girl. "Uh huh…"  
I glared at him. "I hate you."

"Uh huh…"

We were so grateful when that hour ended that we ran to our rooms to shower before rushing to meet Sasori so he could lead us to our next class, even though I was sure most of us were exhausted. Well, except for Lee but he's weird so he doesn't count.

We trudged into the lecture hall and took our seats.

"Hey."

We all jumped and looked up, startled, to where a woman was floating across the ceiling in front.

"Name's Prof Anko Mitarashi," she said, sounding friendly enough. "Magical Creatures 111 is an easy class to pass. Attendance is part of your grade and I will not tolerate any late assignments."

She fell abruptly and gasps rang even as she landed softly in a padded chair.

"In this class," she continued, ignoring the gasps and whispers. "You will learn about summons and which ones are best for which monsters. Also, you will see whether they are useful to you- which ones are helpful and which ones will try to kill you.

Please understand right away that if you are eaten, you must help me help you by struggling as much as you can. I wouldn't like to kill a summon for you just because you taste like chicken- really, that's not its fault. Anyway, also, for the more primitive creatures, like _most_ of the dragons, I suggest that you don't agitate them. And for the smarter ones, like _some_ kinds of dragons, I hope that you are not foolish enough to offend them."

I tried not to zone out as she went through a list of the summons and magical creatures that could benefit us.

She yawned halfway through the class and dismissed us, saying she was bored.

Not needing to convince her otherwise, we quickly left, taking that time to walk around, doing nothing.

Sasori found us all on the courtyard and didn't even ask why we were out early. Anko must have been really lazy. He just smiled and led us to our next class.

We sat in the brightly lit hall and the man who had collected us from the car park yesterday swept into the room a moment after we had settled down.

He looked decidedly silly. Not at all laid back like he'd been when he'd come to get the us yesterday.

His clothes were ones I'd only seen at costume parties and in plays my mom dragged me to in an effort to improve what little culture my dad bestowed on me with his lessons in burping, farting and other manly activities.

"I am Professor Kotetsu Hagane," he bowed extravagantly, before springing up swiftly. I wonder if that was his version of the bend and snap.

He walked up to a student at the front. A guy who was half man and half goat…

He moved his face close to the student's, as if searching before he nodded and stepped back. "Thou smell of mountain goat."  
The boy blushed as hushed laughter sounded.

Kotetsu moved away, his robe flowing dramatically behind him as he walked toward the board.

"My mind beats as my heart thinks. Let this be proven to thee in ways that love was never more logical than mine." He spun and faced the class. "Who said these words?"

I blanched.

The hell?

Kotetsu smiled warmly for a second. "I don't know whether to be thrilled that I have the chance to fill such empty minds or mourn your intellect- or lack thereof."

He waved a hand at the blackboard and it turned white.

"Assuming you do not even know what class this is, I shall enlighten you. This is Monster Psychology. In this class, I shall try to get you to understand the intricate devices that make us what we are. You will learn to understand each other better as well as yourselves. You will learn what to do in confrontations, how to react, how to instigate or soothe aggression and if of any great intellect, how to read minds. But that comes later. We must first trace the history of our understanding of ourselves and our interactions with each other. Please note that you must pass this class in order to become a Guardian and will have it for the rest of your life here…unless, of course, you wish to study something mundane like dragon rearing."

He talked with a soft drawl and it was hard to say whether he was being serious or trying to get us to loosen up.

"If correctly studied, you can even be able to tell what a monster had for breakfast from his footprint in the sand."

Okay…this course was starting to seem interesting.

"One of the greatest guardians of all time was William Shakespeare."

I was aware of my eyes widening but no one else found this out to be news.

"Many monsters have lived in the human world, most deciding to be artists or poets of some kind, and those who are highly educated in monster psychology find it easier to understand humans as well. Which is why William was so popular with the humans…

His apprentice, a man who chose to stay in Konoha and spread his wisdom, was Henry Ashburn.

_My mind beats as my heart thinks. Let this be proven to thee in ways that love was never more logical than mine._

Ashburn was a poet of sorts," Kotetsu admitted grudgingly. "And was known for his philandering conduct as much as his intellect.

Ashburn believed that the way to understanding people was to study their emotions- which are what control most humans and monsters- with the exception of vampires and lawyers- or guardians- who are similar in their bloodsucking ways.

His greatest study was on love," here Kotetsu grinned. "Yes ladies, feel free to squeal with excitement.

Ashburn's theory was that the real feeling of love is in the brain and people just _think_ of their hearts as responsible for the emotion even though they know good and well that it just pumps blood. Ashburn said that he would love each woman as he wanted to, that he would shower them with gifts if he felt like it and if it was within his means to do so and also, if he would get something in return. He had long since decided that his lovemaking was payment enough however and let women buy _him_ gifts.

He refused to be so enamored with a woman that he lost all his manly pride. If serenading was done, you could rest assured he'd be singing mocking songs to a woman who had rejected him and telling listeners of her disproportionate bosom, her invisible virginity and how the beauty of her face could sour grapes.

_I carry her likeness, as a portrait, with me all times in evenings past. It soothes the exorcisms as I wish to aid the priests to frighten away the demons. Truly there was never so ugly a fiend as her in the likes of hell._"

A few guys chuckled and the girls sent them withering looks while Kotetsu continued.

"It is rumored that Ashburn was a monster of the lust variety which include vampires, succubae, incubi and sirens and that that helped him get into many women's beds."

I smirked and elbowed Gaara. He snorted and sipped more of his juice, hiding a faint smile.

"Your first assignment will be to write on the history of Monster Psychology and note briefly, the theories of Ashburn. You may even feel free to speculate on his love life."  
With that Kotetsu waved them out the door, thirty minutes before time was up. "It's due next week."

As I slowly got up, I noticed that no one else seemed particularly inclined to leave. Even if Kotetsu was eccentric- _weird_- he was interesting and I figured that a lot of other students had decided this would be one of their favorite classes.

It was definitely one of mine.

Sasori left us in our last class for the day and I held back a groan.

Chakra control 101.

The professor was already waiting for us and he stared at us like specimen he really wanted to experiment on.

"Good afternoon students. I am Professor Ebisu. I won't bother going into explaining the history of chakra control as you must, by now, know all about it and I expect a report on it next week. Twenty pages long."

Aw hell, he's obviously a demon.

"I want you all to take this time to concentrate on controlling your chakra. We will meditate and maybe when I'm sure you are all capable, we will begin to manipulate and control it."

Ebisu easily came off as smug and arrogant, somehow managing to be even more insulting that Kotetsu was- which was quite a feat considering Kotetsu could praise you in one moment and rip your pride to shreds in the next. He was even more unpleasant that Genma. Amazing, yeah.

Ebisu had us all sit, close our eyes and concentrate. It was irritating as hell.

"Sir?"

He sighed. "Yes, Miss Haruno?"

"How do we know when we're done?"

"When I tell you that you're done."

Stupid bastard.

I was so glad when that class was over.

Concentrating or meditating or whatever crap he was teaching us seemed terribly boring.

I headed for dinner with Sakura and Gaara. Kiba was with Hinata, trying- and failing- to chat her up.

I sat by Gaara again. It seemed we had all decided to take our seats from yesterday as permanent.

Sasori grinned as he sat down.

"How was your day?"

I smiled. "Great. Except for my last class. Even Genma was better than _him._"

"Chakra control?"  
I nodded.

"Ebisu?"

I nodded again and asked. "You don't take that class?"

"Oh, I take it but the one for second years, obviously. Chakra control 201. We were given to Professor Kyuubi. They divided the work load between them. Ebisu takes first and fourth years and Kyuubi takes the rest."

I nodded, thinking how lucky he was. "Is Kyuubi okay?"

"He's awesome," Sasori laughed. "Definitely a favorite this year."

Lucky bastard.

**(I am a monster page break. Rawr)**

Dinner was a welcome distraction from the classes we wished to forget. That didn't stop us from praising the lecturers we thought we cool.

However, when Lee _dared_ to declare that Gai was awesome, the whole first year table lost it and tried to kill him. Peacefully, of course.

Kiba threw a pie at him while Hinata stood, butter knife in hand. Sakura's wand was aimed at Lee and the others all had various forms of weaponry. Mine was a muffin.

Sasori sighed. "Don't you think you guys are overreacting just a bit?"

"No," we answered.

Sasori waved his wand at us and we instantly calmed down.

I sighed as the rest of the table decided to educate Lee with words.

"There's no way he's even slightly good! He tried to kill us with laps! He's _insane_!"

Yeah, Lee wasn't listening. He was shouting back about how youthful we all were even as he wiped Kiba's pie from his face.

"Naruto…"

I turned to Gaara, wondering why his voice sounded so hoarse. He was looking at my finger.

I blinked.

There was a small drop of blood on my finger. I stared at it, wondering how the hell it had gotten there when I hadn't been anywhere near a sharp object. Even my fork was still on the plate.

"Wha-"

Gaara took in a deep, shaky breath and I turned to look at him again.

"What's wrong?"  
He shook his head.

He was trembling, I noted worriedly. "Gaara, are you okay?"

He'd never shown this sort of feverish bloodlust before. Especially not for my blood.

He moved away from me, shaking his head again. "I should go."

I grabbed his hand, not thinking, but stopping him from leaving.

"Hey, calm down."

He nodded, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

I could feel the others looking at us but for the moment they didn't matter.

"Gaara," I said forcefully.

He looked at me.

I was struck by how miserable he seemed, fighting with himself. His eyes were a bright golden colour, extremely different from his usual deep green. There were only two times he'd eyes had ever changed colour. The first time had been when that fool had taken his juice and he'd lost it and I had had to fight him off and the second time had been when I'd fallen while we were rock climbing and had gotten a huge gash on my leg. He'd helped me home wearing that exact expression, with those exact bright eyes, and I hadn't seen him for nearly a month after that. When I managed to corner him, Gaara had told me that he didn't want to risk hurting me, that he didn't trust himself around me. I had had to plead, coerce and threaten to tell his mommy before he finally relented and started hanging out with me again.

I wouldn't let that happen again. Especially as he doesn't find his mom as scary as she used to be.

"Here."

I heard a soft gasp from Sakura. Gaara was equally giving me an incredulous look as I offered my finger to him. "I trust you."

"Naruto, are you sure?"  
I hesitated. "Will it kill me?"

He shook his head.

"Will it hurt?"

He shook his head again.

"Will you try to drink more than I'm offering?"

"I really can't make any promises."

"Gaara-"

"Alright. I won't."

I nodded and he took my hand gingerly. Once more, his eyes met mine.

"Are you sure?"

I shrugged.

Not needing any more encouragement, Gaara put my finger in his mouth and shut his eyes, shivering in excitement.

My finger felt wet, of course, and warm in his mouth and my eyes widened when he swiped his tongue over the small pinprick on my skin where the blood had been. He was sucking slowly and running his tongue over the sensitive pas of my finger. I swallowed harshly and he opened his eyes, smiling at me. His eyes were still dark with bloodlust and I felt his fangs lightly touch my skin.

Abruptly, he let go of my hand and pulled away, licking his lips like he'd just had a five-course meal.

"You taste a whole lot better than you smell," he drawled, his fangs glinted in the light.

Oh great, I'd just ensured that my vampire friend continued his quest to drink me.

He grinned. "I'll have to make sure I'm present every time you hurt yourself."

"Yay for you," I rolled my eyes, wiping my finger on a napkin before turning back to my food.

Until I noticed, eerily, that once again, all eyes were on me. Well, me _and_ Gaara.

I looked up and saw that Hinata was regarding me and Gaara curiously, Kiba was looking horrified and Sakura was blushing.

"What?" we asked together.

"That," Sakura whispered. "Was one of the hottest things I've _ever _seen."

We looked at her and then at each other before we snorted.

That seemed to somewhat ease the awkwardness in the air and other people went back to their food. The rest continued to watch us, with half-dazed expressions, like the one Sakura had.

Sakura started to explain that it wasn't unusual for friends of vampires to offer their blood, even in public, and that it was the equivalent of giving someone a hug. Except that the way Gaara did it was positively erotic and Kiba said it had given girls wanking material for the next three months. Sakura punched him in the gut for that one.

Hinata however, said that it wasn't just that I had given Gaara blood.

"What is it then?" I asked.

"The dark monsters seem to be craving your blood," she said easily and I blanched.

There was no way that was a good thing.

"That's not a good thing," Sasori said helpfully.

No shit.

"What do I do?"

"Hope fervently that they don't think you're going to be a donor?" he suggested, amused.

Hinata failed to hide a smile. "It's nothing to worry about, really. No one would take your blood without your consent, except for demons but even they have to do it when you've already injured yourself, like Pein did and since Pein already tried to make a claim on you yesterday, the others might back off."  
I gaped. "HE _**WHAT**__?"_

"You didn't think he was just some weird guy who liked licking people, did you?" Sasori chuckled. "Wow, you really _were_ raised with humans."

"Don't stress," Gaara offered a smile. "My claim just now was much more definite than Pein's. If anyone tries anything, I'm pretty sure I can take them."

I took in a deep breath, looking at Hinata for confirmation.

She nodded. "You _did_ give him your blood willingly, so it's fine."

"No one will try and make me a Slurpee?"

She looked _really_ amused now. "No."

I sighed in relief. At least Gaara had his uses, even if I _did_ have to kill him for daring to _claim_ me… I'd probably have to arrange his death for when we graduate, seeing as how that would be the only time I'd be free.

I felt Sasuke's chakra suddenly flow in unsynchronized waves and just _knew_ he was angry. But I didn't do anything about it. _I_ was calm so I knew we wouldn't start kerning.

Besides, I had a meeting with him and Kyuubi after dinner and I really didn't want to have to deal with Sasuke before it was absolutely necessary to do so.

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**A/N: Hi there.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will concentrate mostly on Sasuke so…Don't cry.**

**I really appreciate all the reviews and hope they don't dwindle.**

**And if I may please pimp my own fic, I'd really love you if you reviewed my one-shot ****'Annual Red Hearts'**** and my multi-chapter fics, 'Dark Masters' and '****An Unlikely Romance'**** that've lost the amount of lovin' they were getting before… **

**Oh well…**

***emo emo emooo….***

**x-x**

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	7. Classes, clashes and claptrap cases II

**Destined**

by Rizember

**Summary**: Life was supposed to be easier once his mate was chosen but why the hell did it have to be him? Humor, Supernatural, SasuNaru

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**Chapter 7: Classes, clashes and other claptrap cases II**

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For siimyy

As promised

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Beta'ed by: [UnBeta'ed]

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Disclaimer: yaddee yadda, I own nadda…

Xx-xx

**Note: this happens the same day as the last chapter...just well...with Sasuke's POV instead of Naruto's. Most chapters after this will stick to Naruto's POV cause this was killer for me to write. Why is Sasuke so difficult? It was easier writing this chapter from Itachi's or Naruto's POV but that would have defeated the purpose so here we are. If its not funny, blame yourselves cause I asked and you said wanted to see more Sasuke. Really, this is **_**your**_** fault.**

**Also: for monsters I've made up.**

**Pyres: pronounced 'pai-ris' for both plural and singular.**

**Hydruid: pronounced 'hai-drooid'. Hydruids for plural.**

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**Sasuke's POV**

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It was almost two in the morning- uncomfortably chilly- and the student welcome party had ended hours ago but I couldn't sleep.

My new room had the unfamiliar smell of forced pine freshness and sake. Probably the result of Tsunade's lazy spellwork.

And her booze.

My new room was a few doors down from the room I'd had last year with Juugo, a quiet giant who'd moved on to the third and forth year dorms.

I supposed my new roommate wasn't so bad, all things considered. I did _know _him after all and he was a friend. I use the term 'friend' lightly... even if Shikamaru and I _had _grown up together.

Shikamaru was on the bed across from mine, fast asleep and doing an impressively accurate impression of a rock. A lazy ass rock even by rock standards.

I heard a soft sound, almost too low for anyone else to hear, and knew exactly who had just intruded into my room.

Itachi snuck in like he figured he was the most bad-ass spy in the world; with heavy breathing, loud swears and a vacuum-cleaner charm to remove the slime from his clothes that was both loud and unhelpful.

I held back a great measure of frustrated violence in an effort to not try kill my idiot brother.

Really, the university should arrange for _some _efficient form of security. If anyone could go around shape-shifting, sneaking into rooms and being a general nuisance, they could easily just kill someone without anyone else being the wiser.

Which was probably something I should try. Naruto would be dead within the hour.

Unfortunately for me, the university had wards up in every student room against monsters with malicious intent so I'd probably be viciously struck by them before I even managed to suffocate the idiot. Or maim him. Or throw him out a window. Or deliver him to my family as a Christmas present.

That last one would be cruel and unusual punishment but I would be more than willing to lock Naruto up for a few hours with my parents and Itachi. Heaven knows I barely survive being with them myself.

But Itachi alone is so much more worse. And sneaking into a room was relatively easy for someone as self-serving as my brother. He simply had one of the snake summons swallow him and slither into the room.

It was easy. And defied the laws of physics.

But when the snake spat Itachi out, it left him covered in muck which was both completely unnecessary, almost amusing and hard to get out of carpets. I had a good mind to make him clean up the mess with his hair.

As if Itachi didn't think I'd already noticed him, he cast a simple Disillusionment spell on himself so that no matter what noise he made or whether or not he decided to fart (which he probably would because he was a bastard like that), he would not be detected.

Disillusionment charms didn't work in the dormitories.

His utter lack of intellect amazed me sometimes...but I supposed I should have been used to his extravagant non-logic.

Getting back to his super spying ways, Itachi moved to sit on the ledge of one of the room's windows, watching me.

I could sense him, even with my eyes closed. He was as obvious as the proverbial pink elephant floating in the room and waving its ass around. Itachi's chakra was familiar to me, we _had_ grown up together after all.

Still, it was both a blessing and a curse that I was able to sense chakra so keenly. It was a family gift...of sorts. Legend says that a witch granted the power to a great Uchiha alpha long ago and twisted the spell. Some of my ancestors had had the ability to sense chakra after that and because it was so overwhelming, most of them went mad and those that didn't, committed various methods of suicide. They were pretty creative in their self-demise, too...some even going as far as building massively impressive self-destruction devices and coming up with long-winded names that would do mad scientists the world over some serious justice.

One of the more retarded sounding ones had been the 'Brilliantly Great Fireball Making Machine For Killing One's Self...OF DOOM!'. Yes, the exclamation mark had been included in the name. My great, great, great grandfather Madara had been the genius responsible for _that _one.

Anyway, with my intense chakra sense, I thought Itachi had the ability as well with the way he always seemed so in tune even when surrounded by monsters but then again, my older brother did _such _a great job of pretending he was an incapable, useless idiot half the time that it was hard for me to think otherwise.

Hm being here in my room, breathing my air apparently means our parents had decided to pull out the _Big-brother_ clause on Itachi and see to it that nothing happened to me while he was here. They must have thought Naruto and I were really dangerous for them to go through all the trouble of using Itachi.

Surely, they must know that Itachi would worsen the situation before he even remotely tried to make it any better…and on purpose, too.

I rolled my eyes in the dark when Shikamaru let out a soft sigh almost as if to inform the world that he'd suddenly dredged up the energy to breathe. It's almost as if he's practiced the art of lethargy to such a degree that he had transcended the effort of breathing.

But Shikamaru could sense Itachi, too. His heightened chakra alerted me to the fact that he had noticed Itachi was in the room, whether he was asleep or not.

That was impressive, even for him.

I suppose there must have been some merit to the claims of Shikamaru's intelligence.

I stopped himself from phasing and attacking Itachi only because I was already pretty tired from staying up all night and feeling Naruto's chakra flowing peacefully in the room down the hall.

I desperately wished I could go bang on the moron's door just to have him wake up.

It wasn't fair _he _could sleep while I was left pondering on the many mannerisms of all the idiots in his life.

If I wasn't getting any sleep then he sure as hell _shouldn't_ get any either.

Itachi chuckled softly in the dark and I wondered if maybe he was reading my mind. He was certainly capable of it and I found it both creepy and praise-worthy. But mostly creepy.

There was only so much love for me that he could portray and while I knew Itachi would gladly die for me, if our parents expected him to skip on his drinking sprees just to watch over his 'baby brother' then they had another thing coming.

In a choice between dying for me and dying for alcohol, I'd be dead before his first shot.

I held back a sigh.

With all the wanderings of my thoughts, it seemed it was taking all that was left of my concentration just to keep from kerning while still comforting myself with thoughts of the many ways I'd torture, pulverize and/or kill my soul mate when I was finally able to. But I supposed Itachi was more than enough of a distraction to keep my thoughts away from the blond menace that is my mate.

Not for the first time, I wanted to punch my pillow violently and alternatively picture Naruto and Itachi's faces while I beat it.

I glared at the pillow and it didn't even flinch.

Ah... what had life come to, that a pillow held no fear for an Uchiha?

"Calm the hell down and go to sleep."

I looked across the room at Shikamaru's back, glaring at him.

He was almost always asleep. In fact, he was probably asleep at that very moment and just reprimanding me out of habit, in his dreams.

It irked me greatly that I had unwittingly, somewhere across the line, obtained Shikamaru as a best friend.

Well, it wasn't like I had much to choose from considering my other best friend was the complete opposite of Shikamaru and had a special knack of ticking me off, starting with the very fact that he'd appointed himself as my best friend with no say from me whatsoever.

Still, he was definitely more entertaining than Shikamaru, the lazy bastard.

Shikamaru was a Shadow, a dark monster that well…likes shadows.

Shadows usually enjoy darkness and have the power to control other people using their-surprise, surprise- _shadows _but Shikamaru has never shown that ability. In fact, I was sure the most I had seen Shikamaru do was try to blend in with his desk and sleep his way through lectures, which was hardly a hereditary skill. I had had that very ability down from the tender age of three. In fact, ignoring my parents had been a special hobby of mine. It still was.

Now that I think about it though, there were times that Shikamaru vanished completely when he'd visited my home over the holidays, usually when he was given a task involving physical labour.

Like right now.

Shikamaru's chakra lessened subtly before I heard a soft rustle of cloth.

A moment later Itachi was pushed off the ledge of the open window by Shikamaru's shadow.

I listened for the hard sound of something crashing into the ground and a bottle breaking and- "My vodka! _NOOOO_!"- I fell asleep with a smirk on my face, mumbling a thank you to Shikamaru and chuckling softly.

Hours later, when I sensed more than heard the girly scream coming from my mate's erratic flowing chakra, my smirk grew and I slept even more peacefully.

I assumed that meant Itachi was fine.

So.

It was a shame we were only two storeys up.

**(I am a rude page break. Yo Mamma)**

I woke up to the feeling of excited expectation. It felt like the day was going to be a really good one.

If this had been a cartoon, there'd have been birds chirping in the air and beautiful, frilly Disney princesses going around dancing and singing about true love. But...this was the real world and at best, Hannibal would be sawing someone in half somewhere as he shared in my sudden joy.

It took a moment to figure out exactly what had woken me up before I noticed the series of sharp tugs at my chakra. Sharp, _unpleasant_ tugs that let me know one thing: that my mate was in distress.

If that didn't put a smile -or its justifiably arrogant equivalent- on my face then nothing else would.

I certainly couldn't help the way I almost full-out grinned when I noticed Naruto's chakra wane, a clear indication that he'd passed out.

Christmas had come early this year and my new belief in Santa-_Itachi_- was unwavering, at least for the moment.

It almost made me want to rush to the Namikaze's room and thank Itachi for whatever the hell it was that he was doing but I decided I didn't want to interrupt.

Even the yearly scaring of the freshmen by the dragon wake-up calls was amusing and not at all irritating like I'd found it to be the first time I'd heard them.

Shikamaru yawned loudly as he watched me drying my hair a few minutes after the dragons roared. He seemed to be carefully contemplating his arsenal of excuses and which ones would possibly get him out of class for the day. It was probably too early in the semester for another one of his grandmothers to die and besides, he needed that excuse for an even more 'troublesome' day.

"What to do, what to do..." he muttered.

"Instead of killing off any more imaginary family members," I advised. "Get your ass out of bed and go take a shower."

Shikamaru watched me toss my towel to a laundry basket and he sighed. "It's too much work."

"It's _personal hygiene_."

"Which means its my personal choice whether to get clean or not."

I turned away from him, pulling on a shirt and trying to hide a smirk as I said casually, "Ino and Deidara will be in today."

Shikamaru froze and I snickered, counting down in my head.

_Three, two, one..._

"I might as well take a shower..."

Oh, he was so whipped.

Shikamaru was out of the shower so fast he had probably foregone the use of soap. I led the way out to Dayan for breakfast, ignoring the blaring chakra I felt in the hallway. It was alittle annoying that the Namikaze's chakra was standing out more than anyone else's but I suppose that was to be expected. Shikamaru and I walked in silence with him trying to surreptitiously look around for Ino. I didn't have the heart to tell him she wasn't anywhere near. Spend enough time with people constantly bugging you and you begin to notice things like their specific chakra signatures. So you can avoid them. Its a case of basic evolution.

We sat in our usual places at Dayan and Neji walked in after us, sitting next to Shikamaru, quietly nodding in greeting before the girls joined us. Then he looked torn between committing seppuku and committing mass murder.

Tayuya enjoyed riling Neji up, especially when he was being calm and proper and Tenten always stared at him, saying nothing because she knew it creeped him out.

If Neji was ever confirmed as a bipolar homicidal genius, I would totally point fingers at Tayuya as an accomplice. Maybe I'd throw in Tenten as well and if the authorities were gullible enough, I'd even get them to believe Shikamaru did all the work.

I was successfully ignoring the waves of chakra flowing off from where Naruto was sitting just as I'd ignored them while walking to Dayan.

"Hi there!" a voice called out.

I ducked a hand casually thrown over my shoulder and continued with my meal.

"You're late," I said, not even glancing at the boy who'd invaded my personal bubble. "The semester began yesterday."

The boy snorted and sat by me, edging closer to face me. "Aw, Sasuke, did you miss me?"

I sighed and lifted my eyes even as he blocked my view of the front.

Long blond hair, bright blue eyes…an impertinent personality, frustrating countenance and an aura of supreme idiocy.

Deidara Touma.

My self-proclaimed _other _best friend.

Deidara could have very well been my mate considering him and the Namikaze kid shared the same deplorable characteristics. Hell, I probably would have tolerated Deidara better.

Deidara was a pyres. A dark monster of the lust variety, distantly related to vampires, that could control fire and conjure flames.

He was a prodigy in his family, being able to cause random explosions whenever he saw fit -which to him, was always. Deidara was also usually responsible for many of his hospital-ridden family members.

Deidara could always be found with his childhood friend, Kisame Hoshigaki; a hydruid- basically, a water controlling monster- but refused to upgrade Kisame to the upper ranks of friendship that made up '_best friends_'.

To my other side, Kisame sat down heavily and offered me a toothy grin that had me drawing me food closer to me.

Kisame has gills, sharp teeth and was blue… not much else could be added on to that description. Except that well...he was practically a shark with legs.

Whenever I was near Kisame, I had an overwhelming craving for fish sticks but could never get them because Kisame was touchy about fish jokes- which Deidara told all the time anyway. Like now.

"-called him _fishy _but she said he was just _shellfish_!"

Needless to say, after a whole year of listening to Deidara's fish jokes, I was ready to offer Kisame a hand in shutting the pyres up. But he'd probably not accept my help, something about dishonour and friendship...

Deidara and Kisame's friendship was strange for many reasons. They always fought about the stupidest things and lashed out with their powers at the lightest provocation. Kisame would then flood everything Deidara exploded and after a few minutes, they'd be back to being civil.

Tsunade had given up on calling them to her office and reprimanding them as long as they didn't damage school property or disrupt classes.

"Where's Ino?" I asked abruptly -cutting off a joke about a lawyer, a horse and a tuna fish- noticing the way Shikamaru was fidgeting and deciding to help the poor guy out.

"She's unpacking," Deidara offered, rolling his eyes. "She said she'll start attending classes tomorrow."

Shikamaru muttered something about Ino being lazy and we all stared at him.

"Tayuya!" Deidara shouted suddenly, as if he'd just then noticed that we weren't alone at the table. "I see you still wear a bra… Don't give up hope. One day, boobs will actually be in there."

He easily ducked her punch and turned to Tenten, greeting her with one rude comment or another. I stopped listening.

It was a small comfort that I was usually only flanked by all these bums at meal times. Classes usually had me with Neji and Shikamaru while Deidara did his best to whisper loudly to me in a claim of 'best-friend-ery'. In our lectures, Tenten and Tayuya always sat as far away from Deidara as they possibly could. Lucky them.

Neji didn't mind Kisame as much as he did Deidara so he didn't comment on his sitting location and didn't draw out his sword and skewer him like a roasted halibut.

The sharp, ringing sound of Deidara being slapped by Tenten was almost covered by a loud whistle from the dean. We all turned to see Tsunade move her fingers from her mouth- honestly, she was such a lazy witch –as she waved her white wand at us.

Sheets of paper appeared by our plates and I quickly scanned it.

"Those are your class schedules. All first years will be taken to their classes for the duration of this week by their DRs and are expected to know their classes and lecturers by the end of the week.

Any envelopes next to your plates are your letters. As Konoha University is significantly isolated and you are here to study, all letters will be magically delivered to your rooms or here at breakfast. To reply, simply write a letter, address it correctly and place them in the located in your suites. They will be delivered, once again, yes indeed, by magic."

Tsunade had a special way of smiling that implied that she she was smiling down upon you instead of just smiling _at _you…almost like she was some sort of goddess and we were lucky to be in her presence.

I stared at his schedule and swore loudly.

Itachi would be taking me in Summons 201. Crap.

I'd probably end up as Itachi's lab rat/personal assistant and die a horrible death.

Well, at least I wouldn't have to be betrothed to Naruto if I was dead.

And I could always try get Itachi fired. It couldn't be _too _hard...

By the time breakfast was done, Deidara was apparently still insulting Tayuya and Tenten- while nursing his cheek- and Neji and Kisame were deep in conversation about the proper way to carry out a war and kill all your enemies. These conversations were pretty standard to the group and I'd learned long ago not to pay attention to them.

As we walked out of the hall toward our classes, Tayuya shoved Deidara who came flailing my way. I stepped aside getting out of his way as he fell to the ground but unfortunately, moving into someone else's.

I shivered violently and clutched at my chest.

The fifth year ghost who'd just walked through me apologised profusely.

She was floating by her boyfriend, the only other ghost in school.

"I'm so sorry, Sasuke," she said, glassy eyes wide with worry. "Are you alright?"

I shivered again and nodded slowly.

Deidara, still lying on the ground, waved his hand at me and I sighed as the warming charm raced through me.

"I'm alright, Rin, don't worry."

The female ghost looked doubtful.

"You sure?" the other ghost asked.

I nodded at him. "Sure, Obito. It's just a little disconcerting, feeling death like that."

Obito smiled cheekily, "Yes well, at least you can _feel _it."

I rolled my eyes as they smiled at me and floated away.

"I still can't get over the fact that that's your only reaction to them," Deidara sighed, getting up by himself when it was obvious no one was going to offer their help. "It's not fair. Whenever those two go gallivanting through other people, the poor sods pass out or have heart attacks or something. You just get a _chill_. I'm telling you it's discrimination."

I ignored the idiot blond and continued my trek to class.

We were starting with Dragon Rearing and had to be in the fields behind Emirés castle. The morning air was cold and half the class were clutching at their scarves against the chill while Deidara just had rings of fire float effortlessly around him to keep him warm. The show-off.

Sasori and Chouji, the other dorm advisors came in late after dealing with the first years and Neji immediately went over to speak to Sasori. Ino was the only one missing.

Chouji took a seat in the grass by Shikamaru while we waited for our lecturer to show up. I was still wondering why dragon rearing was a course at all. Shouldn't it have been for whoever wanted to specialise in the studying of the large, scaly obnoxious beasts?

Looking up, I saw several dragons circling us from high up in the sky.

"Maybe if we're lucky they'll swoop down really fast and kill Deidara," Tayuya muttered.

"While they're doing that, maybe they can grab you too," a girl said loudly, laughing at Tayuya's annoyed expression.

"Don't" I said quietly to Tayuya, being the voice of reason.

Not like she ever listened to reason so why should she listen to its substitute?

The sudden sound was low and soft and no one but chakra-sensitive monsters would even notice Tayuya was using it. Neji threw Tayuya an irritated glance and she raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged and went back to talking to Sasori.

The girl who'd mocked Tayuya suddenly got a blank look on her face. She seemed confused and turned to the nearby muddy puddle, lowering herself slowly until she lay flat in the mud. Her friends were all shocked, staring at her in horrified surprise that quickly turned to horrified amusement when she started grunting like a pig and splashing about.

Tayuya seemed satisfied with that and stopped her song, turning to me with a pleased smirk.

The girl's eyes widened and she gaped down at herself before letting out an ear-splitting shriek.

She got up and screamed, "Tayuya, you _bitch!_ I know you're responsible for this! I will-"

"Calm down, piggy!"

I turned to Anko, our lecturer, and held back an amused smirk.

Anko was the kind to encourage altercations and fights because she didn't believe in "that lovey dovey count to ten crap"... And would probably let the to girls fight it out.

"What happened here?" Anko asked the girl.

"_She,_" here the girl pointed at Tayuya. "Did _this _to me!"

"She threw mud at you?" Anko asked curiously. "Well, why did you just keep standing there? It looks like you let her hit you from everywhere."

"She did something," the girl muttered, suddenly unsure. "Her song or something..."

Anko turned to Tayuya. "Did you do this?"

"No miss, I was talking to Sasuke the whole time. He can vouch for me."

Anko turned to face me.

I just stared at her, not vouching for Tayuya at all. Like hell I'd even try.

"Hmm," Anko said after staring at me for a few more seconds before turning back to the muddy victim. "Well, go get cleaned up and hurry back. We'll wait."

The girl huffed, demanding punishment with her glare.

"This is a _university_," Anko said sternly. "Not kindergarten. Your mommy will not do anything to the kids who are mean to you here. This is the real world. If you want justice after a little mud and no real damage or proof, I suggest you get it yourself."

The girl muttered and stalked off to get clean.

I wondered why she didn't just ask Sasori to help her, he _was_ a warlock after all. And Anko could do magic, too.

Well, I shrugged, that wasn't my concern.

There was a large gust of wind as the dragons that had been flying above us all landed, flapping heir wings and effectively chilling us to the bone and blowing out Deidara's fire- "OI!"- before settling and watching us indifferently.

There were six different types; all sentient, all deadly and all seeming to take a liking to me, like most creatures did. I figured they liked the wolf aspect of my blood that made me seem like a creature myself.

One of the sentient dragons, a Rigelis, one of the more deadly 'kill for fun' types, particularly enjoyed talking to me while my group studied its scales by poking, prodding and staring intently.

The dragon would have killed them if they tried to pull one out.

"You're a Phasor," the dragon said as me and Tenten approached.

I nodded, pointing at Tenten, "She is too."

The dragon sniffed at Tenten, its large nostrils flaring briefly with fire before it nodded, as if confirming that as true. Sentient dragons had the strange tendency of pointing out the bloody obvious, always having greetings like, "It is not raining at this present time," and other pearls of wisdom. I think they do it cause they can. After all, no one would dare point out that a dragon's being stupid when it could kill them the moment they finished their sentence.

The Rigelis we'd been given had a long spiky tail coming out from a mix of black and gold scales running all over its body and a hard head with three horns sticking out.

Rigelis scales were unbelievably rare and expensive.

Anko seemed to have them in abundance as all she had to do was ask the dragon to scratch himself abit and he willingly did so.

I had no idea how Anko made these kinds of creatures her _friends _but I wondered if I _really _wanted to know.

No. Not at all.

The Rigelis, whose name turned out to be Darlan, flapped his wings elaborately when Neji politely asked him to do so. He then motioned to me with a scaly brow and I raised mine.

"You saved his life," Darlan stated, nodding at Neji.

I shrugged.

"I am not sure whether you are being modest or irritated by my conversation," Darlan said with a growl.

Instead of being intimidated, I snorted and nodded at Deidara who was at a Bacia, yelling at the dragon about how it was in denial that it was related to lizards.

"See that loud idiot over there?" I asked Darlan, looking at Deidara.

The dragon nodded.

"I have to listen to him all the time."

At that, Darlan let out a long loud laugh and grinned at me.

"You liken my talk to his blabber?"

"I'm saying you're more tolerable than he is."

The dragon chuckled and nodded, letting me carry on with his questions about his scales.

Before the double period was up, Darlan prodded me with his tail. When I moved forward to ask him what the matter was, he surprised me with:

"You smell like blood."

At my raised eyebrow, the dragon simply shrugged and said, "If you yourself do not know why, I can not explain it, can I?"

"Nice rhyme," I said dryly. "But is the blood scent something I should worry about?"

Darlan chuckled. "I wonder."

I sighed impatiently and went back to collect the last of my information on the dragon's scales.

After thanking the dragons for allowing us the honour of observing them and not eating us, we walked to Tridant for our next class. Monster Psychology 211. With Ibiki.

Sitting in the badly lit, sweltering lecture hall, I knew 'Monster Psychology' was code for 'Torture'. Very few second years had chosen this class and only those sure they wanted to be Guardians, or were sure they could handle it, even bothered signing up for the class.

As such, me, Neji, Sasori, Tayuya, Shikamaru and Utakata were the only ones there. Everyone else had opted out or wasn't concerned with having a future in law, justice or politics. Ino also took the class but she had effectively excused herself from all the lectures that day. I think she and Shikamaru were distantly related.

Ibiki watched us all with a grim look.

"You had better be sure this is something you want to do," were his first words.

We stared at him, not exactly sure if that warranted an answer.

Seeming satisfied with our silence, Ibiki walked to his desk at the front and sat down.

Suddenly, the lights went out completely and we all started. We stayed silent, not knowing whether this was some sort of test.

I noticed something after a moment.

All my senses were gone.

I couldn't hear, see or smell anything. I tried to move my hand and touch my desk but I found that I couldn't even _feel _the desk. Or my hand.

I figured if I opened my mouth and tried to bite into anything, I probably wouldn't be able to taste it.

It was like suddenly being paralyzed and my brain went through the necessary reactions: disbelief, denial, what the hell is going on here and finally, calm.

I could sit here in the dark and try to figure out what the point of the lesson was or I could sit in the dark and _be_ the point of the lesson.

It was strange, feeling like I was in a vacuum- feeling like I _was_ a vacuum- and wondering how long I'd been there. There were merits to having all your senses ripped from you, like not knowing if your body was on fire. And relaxing, all this feeling of nothing was amazingly relaxing.

Normally, at this point, a normal person would start to feel fear at least. Being so disoriented couldn't be good. But I was under the impression that Tsunade ran a relatively safe school and wouldn't allow her lecturers to harm her students.

So I relaxed into my chair.

Suddenly, the lights came back on. Everyone was where they were when the black-out had occurred and we stared at each other, as if wondering if we had each just gone through the same thing.

Ibiki stood and watched us.

"Well done," he said gruffly. "You all seem to have reached the same conclusion at about the same time."

"what conclusion?" Utakata asked, his voice clearly indicating that he was not ready to accept an answer that sounded like it came from a fortune cookie.

"The conclusion that you were safe. Or that even if you _weren't _and were dying horribly, that you would not feel it."

While we seemed to mull this over, he continued. "The senses are a direct line to a person's thoughts. If someone stabbed you, you'd think of pain first before questions such as 'why did they do it', 'how long till I bleed out' and 'was I _really _just murdered with a butter knife' come up. Taking away someone's senses can have numerous effects. Isolation tanks are used for studying these effects. They can bring about serenity and relaxation and a general lose of perception of time. Prolonged use leads to hallucinations and fear. It is important that you understand this. Now, go write an essay on the links between thoughts and senses and have it done by Monday. Give examples and references. You are dismissed."

I blinked in surprise. We had been so taken with his analysis of our actions... The clock showed an hour had already passed and we'd be late if we didn't hurry for our next class.

W barely made it to Elements 201.

Deidara waved at me and I walked passed him making it pretty obvious that I had seen him and no intention of acknowledging his stupidity.

Seeing my other seating options were Tayuya, Tenten or Deidara, I sat by Neji with Utakata on my other side. Sasori came in late again because he had to take the first years to their next classes till they got used to the routes and then hurry back to his own. The ickle firsties were tremendously lucky that I hadn't been chosen as a dorm representative. They'd have been abandoned in a maze of hallways by now and no search party would have been able to find them. Hell, if I'd been a DR, they'd be skipping meals, classes and half of them would have gone missing already.

We sat in the cold lamp-lit room, out of breath, and waited a few seconds before Orochimaru walked in. His eyes shone yellow in the light and he looked even more pale than usual. It occurred to me that I had never seen Orochimaru in the sunlight and he would come off as creepy and infinitely weird if he wasn't such a good lecturer. In his defense though, he had snake summons which made him a little less lame than normal lecturers.

Orochimaru smiled at the class, "I must admit, after your continuous assessment I am surprised most of you even made it back. I can only assume you rallied greatly for the exam I gave you and came out triumphant."

Some people smiled and Orochimaru raised a hand. Fire immediately formed and started to fly rampantly around him.

"Be warned though, I _could_ fail you _this _year."

His smile was pleasant enough but his words were cold with clear meaning. Study or hit the bricks.

Deidara nudged me with his elbow, nodding at the fire zooming around Orochimaru and muttered, "I can do that."

Orochimaru raised the flames and the ceiling caught fire.

"I can do that, too," Deidara whispered excitedly while some of the other students started to panic.

"The elements are dangerous and usually, difficult to control," Orochimaru said, walking up to the students at the front and ignoring their panicked upward glances.

"A small error in judgement could have you destroying yourself," the man continued. "Take fire for example, the flames could eat away at your body _from the inside, _or they could burn down a forest _or_... they could turn an entire lecture hall and all the students inside, to ash."

A girl screamed and Orochimaru rolled his eyes. He raised his hand again, and the fire flowed back to it. The ceiling was left unmarked and the flame withered and blew out in Orochimaru's palm.

"Okay...I can't do that," Deidara muttered glumly before mumbling something about Orochimaru showing off.

I tried to ignore Deidara and started to take down notes.

Orochimaru explained the great chakra control needed for controlling elements. He explained the daily meditation some monsters had to go through to achieve it while others were born with affinities to certain elements, like hydruids to water and pyres to fire.

Few monsters could master all the elements and fewer still could have the chakra needed to control them.

"It is with great heaviness but much smug glee that I tell you that not all of you here will be able to master an element and those that do will probably specialise in one at the most. Do not worry however, as the exam will be completely theoretical and because your failure to control an element is probably genetic, I will not grade or fail you for it."

I sighed and hoped I wouldn't be without an affinity for any element. Deidara, Kisame and Tayuya obviously had their affinities and could already control their elements because of what monster types they were but I couldn't be so sure.

I chanced a glance and saw that Neji didn't seem worried at all but Tenten was fidgeting nervously.

I shook his head in an effort to clear it. I had a large amount of chakra, Tsunade had said so herself, surely there was _one_ element I could use.

Well, I certainly hoped so because if I couldn't, that would be one more thing Itachi would have over me.

I tuned back into the lecture with a tired sigh.

"-sometimes," Orochimaru was saying. "The fact of whether you're a dark, light or azure monster may also affect your elemental capabilities. Dark monsters usually have an affinity for fire, azure for wind and light for water. This means that-"

I looked at my group of 'friends' and sighed.

Apart from Neji, we were all dark monsters. It was no wonder the boy was always on edge and going from pleasantly polite to psychotically violent… He was fighting his natural instinct to kill us every day.

"Neji," Deidara whispered. "You'd make a pretty girl."

On the other hand, maybe it wasn't instinct at all. Maybe some of us just deserved to die.

But no matter how many times we irritated him, taunted him and insulted his hair care products, Neji never snapped and killed us like I would have done had I been in his place. He was a loyal friend, like he'd silently promised he'd always be.

Staring at him, I felt himself frown as he remembered how we had been forced to help Neji last year, the very event that led to our current friendship.

Neji was an angel and _naturally_, was prone to acting like the sun shone out his ass and his boogers created the Earth. Still, for all his arrogance, all anyone had ever done was ignore him.

He had always been alone and being the only angel on campus, I suppose that couldn't have been easy.

No one had talked to him or paid him any mind until a few of the fifth years had decided that there were one too many angels on campus and Neji had been ambushed by the lakes during a mid-semester break party.

No one stopped them.

People just watched.

Neji fought back brilliantly and I had had to admit that I was impressed that the angel freshman was getting the upper hand on five fifth years. But then, Sora, the aggressive demon leading the assault, had pierced Neji with his wings and Neji had been severely injured.

It was common knowledge that most winged dark monsters had venomous wings and well, because of that, Neji had practically been issued a death warrant.

That one move, unfair as it was, sprung me into action and I attacked Sora, phasing and snapping at him.

There were actually various versions of what happened that night.

Some said I went all He-man on Sora's ass (complete with sword, theme music and_ 'by the power of grayskull'_)… Some said I went nuts and somehow obtained Excalibur and defeated Sora with special lights, sound effects, and apparently, cheering from the Lady of the Lake…

Others said I turned into a cute puppy and my cuteness overwhelmed Sora's evil. Those were three most popular rumours going round the next day and considering most of the students at the party had been drunk, it was easy to know why they'd believe them.

According to Tayuya however, when the others saw me act like a chivalrous fool, my friends decided to pitch in and help. Kisame and Tayuya had restrained three of the demons, almost drowning them by keeping him under water for an unnecessarily long time. Deidara had to stand back and watch as me and Tenten fought the last two because his pyres powers weren't exactly the kind to 'leave anyone alive' . Deidara had still enjoyed cheering anyway, yelling stuff like, "Kick her in the nuts!", "Oh no, he di-idn't!", "To infinity and beyond!" and other non-logical expressions.

Shikamaru hadn't been present that time, having decided to sleep the night away.

All five demons had been expelled once Tsunade found out about the supposed assassination attempt and Neji had had to be personally treated by her for him to recover from the poison.

The next day, Tayuya had walked over to where Neji was sitting by himself at breakfast and dragged his ass over to our seats. He'd been visibly embarrassed but had nodded at us all in a way akin to gratitude.

Neji had taken great strides in his friendship by not attacking us whenever we used our powers. He'd even been able to ignore Tayuya's siren song whenever she released it for fun instead of what would be the usual angel reaction of cutting out her throat and wearing it like a necklace...oh wait, that was psychotic elves.

I had to admit, however, that the effect of the siren's song was amusing.

Sirens were the genetic cousins of mermaids and as such, were strongest in water. Their powers were close to psychological as whoever they wanted to hear the song would hear it and do whatever they wished. Unlike mermaids however, sirens didn't need to actually _sing _for which I was eternally grateful as I was under no illusions as to Tayuya's vocal abilities.

I usually likened her actual singing voice to a dying banshee with an accordion.

An accordion with a cat trapped in it.

"Be sure to have the assignments ready by then!"

I glanced at my notes before I got up and followed a bickering Deidara and Kisame out to Dayan for lunch.

It was comforting to know that the first years had already eaten their lunch and gone to class leaving Dayan Naruto-free. I almost felt like celebrating.

For a Monday, the day was going great.

**(I am a cute page break. See? :3 )**

**Chakra Control 201**

**Kyuubi**

Walking into chakra control, I had the gut feeling that something was going to try relentlessly to ruin my day.

That something was my lecturer and idiot older brother's best friend, Kyuubi.

The red head was smiling at us warmly as we came in, and from all the warmth, I wouldn't have been surprised if Kyuubi pulled out a bag of cookies and started handing them out before preparing us all for naptime. From the disgruntled, manly looks coming from all the guys, I knew they felt the same way.

The girls however, seemed to have taken a liking to Kyuubi already, if all the giggles were anything to go by. Still, if the girls were staring at someone other than me, it basically meant that they were leaving me alone. Which was fine by me.

Apart from last night when a large mob of girls had blocked my way back to my room to ask me to hang out, I hadn't been bothered much these past two days. Even the girls in my class were all watching me in awe from a distance and not daring to come near me. I suspected Deidara was a useful female deterrent.

Besides, being fangirl-free made sure my view wasn't obscured by any female when Kisame gathered up the courage to go talk to Nagi, a pretty girl he'd had a crush on since last year. Neji and Deidara were both watching Kisame's advance intently with identical smirks on their faces. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out I was smirking, too. There was just something infinitely amusing about a guy walking toward his doom, about to be shot down.

Tayuya and Tenten were busy whispering encouragement even when Kisame was too far to hear them.

They waited with baited breath as Kisame talked to the girl.

Her eyes widened comically and she shook her head briefly before saying something back, blushing immensely.

Kisame nodded and walked back toward us.

"Do I need to go over there and kick her ass?" Tayuya asked, cracking her knuckles.

Kisame frowned at her before turning a glare to Deidara who had just taken his hand, giving him a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, there are plenty of other fish in the sea."

Kisame growled and punched Deidara's shoulder hard.

"She said yes, you idiot."

"Hm. She must really like sushi."

"DEIDARA!"

Before a game of 'Chase and kill Deidara' could break out, Kyuubi shouted for us all to be quiet so he could get started.

He walked in front of a large black board and waved his hand. A long string of flaring green chakra moved forward and attached itself to Deidara's wrist.

"OI!"

Before Deidara could detach it, it sunk into the skin on his wrist and he was roughly pulled forward. Deidara got up abruptly, a frown on his face, as he jumped onto his desk.

"Um, Mr. Kyuubi, sir... Controlling your students' chakra systems is a grave offense and I _will _report you to the dean when I get a hold of my faculties."

Kyuubi laughed. "I'm not controlling your chakra system. I'm controlling _you _using _my _chakra."

At this point, Deidara hunched over and scratched his butt.

"You know," the blond said thoughtfully. "I'd be a lot more embarrassed if this _wasn't_ the sort of thing I 'd usually do anyway."

"Exactly, so don't complain," Kyuubi said, finally turning away from Deidara who was jumping up and down like a monkey. "Chakra control means more than just control of yourself. With enough chakra and proper concentration, you too can make an idiot out of your friends."

The girls giggled as was appropriate, even Tenten, much to the disgust of Tayuya from the look of it.

"Notice that the string I used to inject my chakra into that young man's body is thin and pliable. It must be if I'm to be able to control whichever body part I choose.

Please note however, that one wrong tug or slight pull, could sever his nerve endings and leave him as a cripple, so getting distracted while doing this is probably a bad idea and-"

"OH MY GOSH, IS THAT A BRICK WALL?" Tayuya shouted, pointing behind Kyuubi.

Kyuubi turned and Deidara screamed, "THAT'S NOT FUNNY TAYUYA!"

Kyuubi chuckled and turned back, releasing Deidara who got off his desk shakily and gave Tayuya the finger. She tried to bite it.

"Since you spent a whole year under Ebisu just concentrating on chakra, I'm confident you can try this exercise and not kill each other. Come to the front in pairs and collect a chakra string."

Minutes after everyone had their string, everyone but Deidara and Neji were doing well.

Kyuubi sighed as he stared at the chakra string stuck in Neji's hand.

Deidara was staring sulkily at Neji and complaining to Kyuubi, "He wouldn't let me control him and he kept punching me."

"But," Kyuubi sighed, rubbing his temple. "You're the one controlling _him_."

"That's what he wants you to think."

Kyuubi rolled his eyes at that and turned to face Neji.

"You punched him?"

Neji's expression stayed blank. "My hand spasmed, formed a fist and then started to act really weird by introducing itself to his face repeatedly."

"So basically...you punched him."

"I suppose."

"How?"

Neji shrugged. "By thinking about it."

Kyuubi chuckled. "Well, either you have such great chakra control that you can expel his or Deidara just sucks at this."

"Why can't it be both?" Neji asked with a sudden smirk.

Deidara made a face at him and Kyuubi heaved a breath. "Alright, switch places."

Seconds later, Neji was successfully getting Deidara to punch himself in the face and of course, saying, "Why're you hitting yourself? Why're you hitting yourself? Why do you keep hitting yourself?"

Well, I found that I enjoyed that class, too, even if Tenten _almost _got me to bow down to her.

**(I am a lion page break. Meow)**

**Summons 201**

Our next class, Summons 201, was the class I had been dreading peacefully from the back of my mind.

Itachi's class.

I entered the class and felt my stomach fall out my ass as I saw millions of pictures of me lining the walls.

Baby pictures.

Some of them nude.

I was going to _kill_ Itachi.

But first-

"Sasuke, where do you think you're going?" Itachi asked amidst swooning, giggling females as I tried to exit the lecture hall.

I gave him a blank look. "I'm going to see the dean."

"Why?"

"To switch this course for something else."

Itachi's eyes widened and he actually looked hurt.

But that was probably a trick of the light.

"You always treat me like I'm beneath your contempt," Itachi sighed quietly.

I looked at him curiously.

"You have never been beneath my contempt. You are fully worthy of all the contempt I have for you."

"Oh," Itachi smiled. "Good. Come be contemptuous inside then."

I scowled, walking into the classroom. Deidara was smirking at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

Deidara was ecstatic about Itachi lecturing us. He'd had a crush on him for the longest time. He always made excuses to come visit my house over the holidays, always choosing the guest room closest to Itachi's as if that would get my brother to sneak into his room and do unspeakable things to him.

It was disgusting, not because Deidara was gay for my brother, but because he was gay...for _my brother. _

"Welcome everyone...and my _darling _baby brother!"

Trust Itachi to ruin a perfectly good day.

I sat by Shikamaru and Neji, who- even though they didn't spare me from their amused glances- wouldn't bring up the pictures outright.

My only comfort in that class was the many screams that erupted when Itachi decided to show the class his summons and kind of flooded the room with venomous snakes of various sizes.

Kaori managed to crawl across the sea of snakes and get to me. I was still in my seat, unlike the others who were all standing on their desks...well, except for Kisame and Neji. Deidara was screaming something about how the snakes kept eye-balling him and probably wanted to eat his sexy self cause he was blond and gorgeous and snakes were attracted to bright colours and beautiful things.

I snorted.

Hearing that, most of the snakes there took offense and crowded around Deidara's desk before Itachi sighed and told them to behave, continuing with his lesson like there weren't a bunch of snakes hissing obscenities at his student.

Rolling my eyes, I sent the snakes away and there was a collective sigh of relief.

Itachi frowned at me, apparently upset at me sending away his pets. "Must you be so anti-social?"

"I'm not antisocial. I just don't like you."

Muttering about wayward siblings, Itachi continued his lecture and-

"Hey Shika...psst...Shika...Shikamaru! Oi, psst!"

Shikamaru twitched irritably by my side.

"Shika baby!...pssst...psstttt...Shika..."

Shikamaru finally glared at Deidara. "If I didn't answer you the first ten times, what makes you think the next ten will be any different?"

"My optimism."

It cheered me up abit to see Shikamaru looking so murderous.

Maybe I'd finally get to see how his powers worked.

Maybe he'd try to kill Deidara and I could rush off, grab Naruto and come throw him in, too...take care of two blonds with one strike.

**(I am a zombie page break. Uuunnggghhh)**

**Healing and Remedies 201**

Escaping Itachi's class felt great -like the sweet taste of freedom- and I slowed my walk to my next class.

I wasn't exactly a fan of Healing.

Kurenai was a patient and responsible lecturer. She didn't fit in with the others who were either evil or psychotic. Or both, like Itachi.

Like me, Deidara didn't enjoy the healing courses because they went against everything his instinct and powers told him. The blond strongly believed in the fact that there were few bad things in life that fiery explosions didn't make a whole lot better.

"Maybe this year you won't send half the class to the hospital wing," Neji said to Deidara as we walked into Kurenai's lecture hall.

"Maybe you won't catch fire quite so fast this time," Deidara retorted.

"No fights this year, boys," Kurenai said pleasantly when she heard them.

Kurenai Yuhi was a beautiful woman with blood-red eyes that made me believe she must have been a dark monster. She spoke softly but was quick to reprimand anyone she caught trying to disrupt her class.

Deidara decided to pass the time in Kurenai's lecture by talking Shikamaru's ear off and hey, better him than me.

"Are you listening to me?" Deidara demanded, poking Shikamaru.

"Of course he is," Kisame sighed, sighing in his seat by Shikamaru. "Can't you see him yawning?"

"What are you trying to say, chicken-of-the-sea?"

"I'm saying you aren't worth listening to, dumbass."

And thus began another Deidara-Kisame pointless argument. With Kurenai eventually sending them out.

Gym, after Healing, saw us all out on the field by the lake in our t-shirts and gym shorts- like high school-, staring at our new gym instructor.

"Who's he?" Tenten asked quietly, wondering at the brutish looking ogre who was eyeing us all like we were pieces of chicken and he was a nutritionally-deprived weasel.

"He's helping Gai take the extra classes," Tayuya explained, staring boredly at her nails. "But no one knows why."

"Well, apparently he's as strong as an ox," Kisame stated dryly.

"And almost as smart," Shikamaru muttered, looking at the ogre with distaste.

Neji didn't seem to mind gym. He took to it like he was purposefully working off a world of stress. Which, understanding the dynamics of our little group of friends, he probably was.

**(I am a girlfriend page break. WHY DON'T YOU HOLD ME ANYMORE?)**

I sat by Utakata with Neji on my other side, mentally preparing myself for what would no doubt be a boring lecture. Genma never made an effort when it came to monsters he didn't particularly like.

His ex-wife was a vampire and one of this semesters first topics was 'vampires and health', which I found at least alittle enlightening even if I _did _already know most of the information already.

Genma droned on and on about vampire statistics and Neji took notes with a calm, bored expression. I noticed several girls pointing at me and Neji and whispering excitedly together before I snorted softly and continued to try to pretend to be paying attention to the lesson.

"…survey showed that eighty-six per cent of all monsters who have ever been in contact with a vampire claim to have, at one point, been in love with them. That leaves fourteen percent and they are probably the ones still in love with them. Of course, they could be the ones who stopped loving them once they were sucked dry but that implies that they are dead now and are thus, of no value to the survey."

Of course, I knew how many vampires they were at Konoha University.

That kind of information was important and could cost someone an ally if you didn't know who not to piss off.

With Itachi having forfeited the position of alpha, it was in my best interests to know monsters of note and befriend them.

There were only four vampires attending KU. Gaara, Sai, Utakata and Hidan. They were pretty easy to spot. Their allure was usually the cause of fainting girls and stuttering lecturers, no matter how unintentional.

Sai was strange but we could at least be civil. I knew we'd never be _friends_ because I found the boy unnervingly irritating, a job Naruto was now doing his best to take over, and Sai was just plain creepy. Utakata was more my type; disciplined, aware of his post in life and ready to do whatever it took to take care of his coven, including befriending a werewolf.

Gaara was a no go area for obvious reasons and Hidan...well, Hidan was a bloodthirsty miscreant who was probably the exact replica of Dracula and took it as his duty to see to it that vampires everywhere were seen as irresponsible, lustful and blood-obsessed.

Hidan's only strong point was that he was a friend of Itachi's and because of that, would be loyal to me as well so I didn't need to extend any olive branches to that direction personally.

A loud collective sigh filled the room and I saw the girls eyeing me and Utakata and vague whispers of "-so cute together...Utakata...yummy...Sasuke...eyes..."

It took great effort to refrain from growling irritably. What was it with girls and staring? And giggling? It was like they did everything they possibly could to be as annoying as possible.

But usually I enjoyed their attention being away from me whenever I was with Utakata because for some reason, vampires seemed to be unable to stop being attractive to people.

I was under the strong belief that you could stick vampire fangs on a dead cat and people would still want to hump it.

Trudging to Dayan square after having been successfully put off marrying vampires by Genma and his mad vendetta against his ex-wife, I was _starving_ and more than ready to take up Deidara on his offer to roast and eat Kisame.

**(I am a magical pimp page break. Abraca-hoochie-mama!)**

Apparently us second years were the last year to enter Dayan and we all sat quietly, exhausted from our classes and mentally drained by Genma. I was enjoying the calm silence from everyone at my table but after a few minutes of eating, everyone at the table was successfully replenished and the monkey chatter restarted.

Ino still wasn't at the table and Shikamaru was being even more of a drag than usual because of that. I wondered why Shikamaru never just told her he was madly in love with her or whatever it was that he was doing brooding over her. He was usually so carefree it was kind of strange he was being this uptight.

A thought of what exactly was happening to him made me smile. Shikamaru was acting weird and Ino had been missing all day.

I snorted at how I hadn't figured it out sooner. Ino was with us. She had been all day.

I smiled lightly and turned away from Shikamaru, my thoughts immediately fading him out because I had solved his little puzzle and was no longer interested.

I _could_ have told him what was going on but where would the fun be in that? Also, Ino would try to kill me if I told him.

The first year table was being irritatingly loud with all of them throwing food at some green-loving leotard-wearing weirdo.

I ignored them as best I could while still trying to ignore my own classmates.

"You know what _I _think?" Deidara asked, and to choruses of 'no's, 'shut the hell up's and 'why the hell would we know that', he continued. "I think deep down inside, passed the emo-ness and dark axe murderer personality, you actually _like _your mate."

I snorted.

"Kisame?" Deidara smirked at his blue shark friend.

When Kisame nodded, I stiffened.

Hydruids have other powers, powers that are still basically water-controlling powers. I knew hydruids could freeze skin off and let it drop off and a monster could bleed out that way when their body part thawed and they bled out if it wasn't cauterized or reattached in time. If ever I needed an army of monsters, hydruids would totally be my front liners.

Kisame aimed at Naruto and I paused. If Kisame killed Naruto, I would be free. Win win.

Nothing seemed to happen but suddenly, I could smell Naruto's blood.

The scent flooded my senses and I suddenly had a craving.

I assumed it probably meant I wanted to rip Naruto a new one but he was too far away. Probably.

Then abruptly, I saw the vampire get up. Naruto stopped him and talked to him for awhile and then-

Then...

And then a moment later Gaara was sucking on Naruto's finger.

My insides froze with anger and humiliation...and pain.

The vampire had just made a claim on my mate.

Even if no one knew we were mates, that didn't exactly mean I was blissfully ignorant, too.

Anyone who bothered to look could see that I was angry.

The thing about being mates that Naruto apparently hadn't bothered to explore was that if either one of us shared our blood with someone else, it would be an unpleasant buzz to the other.

But for me, it was much more than a just a buzz. It was like an avalanche pummeling my chakra repeatedly. And Naruto had no idea.

For Dark monsters, blood or a bite was a claim- which was why it was involved in many betrothal events, including the wolf turning ceremony.

I felt a million tiny needles pricking at my sides and caught Naruto's eye.

Naruto might have been raised with humans but he should have bloody _known _that sharing his blood would hurt me. It was the only way he could actually get me hurt, without having a friend kill me for him.

And he knew it. He _had _to.

Naruto turned away and I growled low in my throat, determined to make him pay.

Everyone at my table was looking at me worriedly.

"Are you okay?" Kisame asked, almost looking concerned except for the fact that he was grinning. "I didn't think the vampire would do that."

I nodded, shaking with rage.

"It hurts, yeah?" Deidara asked, serious for once in his life.

I didn't answer, instead choosing to stab a leaf of lettuce with my spork. My other hand was rubbing soothing circles around the seal mark.

I let out a small sigh of relief when the ache dulled and faded, signaling the end of Naruto's little blood donor session.

"Would you like a little retaliation?"

I looked up to see identical smirks on all my friends' faces. I could even hear a soft whisper of "_Do it_" from Ino.

"Retaliation?" I raised an eyebrow at Deidara but I didn't really need an answer. Deidara was staring at my neck like it was the promised land. It was pretty obvious what he was suggesting.

I, being the sadistic bastard Itachi had always hoped I would be, bared my neck to Deidara in an open invitation.

Before I realized what was happening, Deidara was attached to my neck, biting down and sucking with a passion only a lust variety monster could have.

I gasped and leaned forward, not expecting the flaming desire that ran through my whole body when he moaned and bit down harder.

Gaara's little sucking act was _nothing _compared to an actual bite.

Only people who experienced them knew what a vampire or Pyres bite felt like.

Absolute _pleasure_.

Itachi knew. I could feel him watching me and Deidara with a smirk on his face. He had had a pyres girlfriend once and just like vampires, their bites could flood lust hormones into their victims and they would willingly stay, being sucked dry and on the verge of orgasm at them same time. Itachi always said it had been the greatest relationship of Itachi's life. All five minutes of it.

Ino's voice was almost irritating especially when she said, "_the fact you're not sporting a tent in your pants makes me wonder if you are so completely repressed that your body is incapable of recognising pleasure or you have more willpower than I had originally thought."_

She paused. "_Well, it's also possible you just have a tiny wiener and it wouldn't form any revealing tent. But wait...you're an Uchiha and Uchihas are nothing if not well endowed._"

Ino had to go with the willpower thing when I roughly shoved Deidara away and wiped at my neck, healing it immediately.

I glared at Deidara and he licked his lips, smiling at my neck with a dazed expression on his face.

I was ready to defend myself with my spork but Deidara simply nodded at the next table.

I turned and saw Naruto staring at me, gaping. He had a pained expression on his face and a hand absently rubbing at his stomach where I knew his marking seal was.

He looked disoriented, blue eyes narrowed with confusion and for a moment, I wondered why.

Naruto's pink-haired witch friend suddenly caught the blond's attention, motioning at me then at Naruto, apparently explaining what had just happened to him.

The next moment Naruto's eyes were back on me and he looked defiant- like he had done nothing wrong.

I sneered at him and turned back to my food, surreptitiously punching Deidara in the gut before slipping a tomato slice into my mouth.

Deidara muttered about me being ungrateful and I snorted.

Deidara just wanted me because he thought I tasted like Itachi and he'd never gotten over his stupid childhood crush on my older brother.

I was about to eat another spork-ful of salad when a hand slammed down onto the table.

I looked up and bit back a chuckle. "Namikaze...fancy meeting you here."

Naruto was breathing heavily and glaring at the me. His chakra was at the height of its irritation, spiking impressively.

"What. The. Fuck. Uchiha!"

I shrugged, lightly dabbing at my mouth with a napkin before I offered him a smirk.

"Is something the matter?"

"You bastard! You did that on purpose!"

I simply raised an eyebrow at the blond. "Did what?"

I watched with keen interest as Naruto's body suddenly erupted in blue chakra that launched itself at me. The people near us backed away quickly.

My chakra immediately enveloped me in it, keeping me safe from the possible burning of Naruto's.

Tsunade was yelling at us to shake hands at once but we ignored her.

Our chakra was somehow intertwining, rising up over our heads like red and blue rope before just vanishing into nothing.

We were kerning. Again.

Itachi's voice was loud in the silence that followed.

"Interesting..."

x**-x**

**A/N: Hi there.**

**So many apologies.**

**Sorry for the wait. I'm writing tests so please bear with me.**

**Sorry for the lack of 'funneh'... I'm morbidly depressing these days.**

**Sorry for global warming. I didn't mean to do it.**

**Thanks for all the reviews by the way. They make me smile :3**

**Also Deidara was included for taraentula.**

**Xx-xx**

**Next probable uploads will be: Dark masters, The Four Seasons and Door To December. Maybe in that order, maybe not.**

**Xx-xx**

**For pictures of Sasuke going through Naruto's underwear, press A.**

**For a video of Naruto giving Sasuke a lap dance, press B.**

**For both of the above and world domination, press *button identity has been hidden for its safety. Please enter security code*...**

**Xx-xX**

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	8. Punishment, prison and other persecution

**Chapter 8: Punishments, prisons and other persecutions**

Xxx-xxX

**Naruto's POV**

Xxx-xxX

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.

It was so bad I was currently unable to come up with appropriate synonyms for "bad".

"_Completely fucked_" came to mind but then again, so did my mom's voice yelling something about swearing. I think she was saying not to do it. Or something.

Barely a week had gone by and I had been to the Dean's office _twice_ already.

Okay, so that wasn't exactly true.

Barely _two days_ had gone by...but it sounded much worse put like that.

I was under the impression Tsunade just enjoyed seeing me.

Well, seeing me and that bastard, Sasuke, considering we ended up here together.

Maybe she gets off on watching innocent guys tremble in fear while she suggested they get _frisky _with each other.

I certainly wouldn't put it passed her.

I mean, she _did_ imply that Sasuke and me had to _touch_ to stop kerning. And she called it '_leaking_'.

Tsunade graced me with a glare, almost as if she could read my mind and I gulped.

I was so screwed.

Chances of me graduating were suddenly looking pretty slim.

At this rate I'd be lucky to make it to the end of the semester.

Tsunade was pacing- a real feat considering all the paper and files she had to wade through but she took to it like a real trooper.

Sasuke and I were standing.

She hadn't even bothered calling us to the front in Dayan square. She'd just flicked her wand in a thoroughly pissed-off manner and we'd both found ourselves in her office, looking thoroughly humbled.

We had to.

Especially seeing as how Tsunade was kerning herself.

Green chakra was flowing off her body in waves and she looked like she was going to snap her wand in half. She kept muttering violent-sounding words that I thought better of hearing.

My swear arsenal was pretty full as it was.

Eventually, she took in a deep breath and moved forward stealthily, grabbing us both by our elbows and slamming us together.

Apart from hurting like a bitch, it served the purpose of getting the three of us to stop kerning. So yay.

My forehead had bashed into Sasuke's jaw and while I managed to hold back any sound of discomfort and what-the-fuckery, I couldn't hold the glare that I let loose on both my disgrace of a mate and my Dean.

It wasn't my fault so why the hell was I even back here? We were supposed to have our first lesson with Ebisu after dinner but Sasuke's little bitch fit had had us both kerning and...

I sighed.

Maybe I shouldn't have confronted him but still, I'd had no idea about the blood claim. I'd had no idea that giving Gaara my blood, by my own free will, would cause him pain.

But Gaara hadn't pierced me. He'd sucked blood that was already there.

Sasuke, the bastard, had known about it.

He'd known and he'd gotten his friend to bite him and hurt me purposefully. The prick.

And it had _hurt_.

The pain had been nowhere near the sealing or the marking ceremonies we'd been through but definitely pretty high up there on the "I'm gonna remember this forever" meter.

A low growl filled the air and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, especially when I realised that it had come from Tsunade.

Maybe that was her special mating call.

I'd heard Sakura growl like that before. Usually it was at Gaara or Kiba. So maybe she had a thing for them...

It would be just like witches to actually have mating calls.

I shook my head to get back to reality.

Even without Tsunade kerning and bending her wand in her hand like there was no tomorrow, I could feel she was pissed.

"What exactly," she hissed. "Did you two _think _you were doing?"

Why does she seem to assume we were thinking? I thought instinct, hatred and psychotic tendencies implied we didn't exactly have to.

Still, she'd asked and it was only polite that I answer.

I opened my mouth, ever ready to defend myself. "Gaara needed my blood and-"

"Silence."

I immediately shut up. She looked like she was seriously considering plunging us both into the netherworld between her boobs, never to be seen again.

Who knew the horrors that existed there.

"You both acted irresponsibly, no matter the circumstances," she said quietly, taking in calming breaths. "You put your peers and your lecturers in danger."

We stayed silent and I forced myself to raise my eyes from her personal Himalayas.

"Naruto," she sighed. "I understand that there are many things you don't yet understand about Konoha and our world's ways. Indeed, the ways of your _own _kind."

Tsunade seemed to zone out, staring out the window thoughtfully, and Sasuke and I shared a confused look, apparently not remembering our previous animosity.

"Your parents understood all the consequences of bringing you up in the human world with only the bare minimum of knowledge of monsters and they took that choice anyway. This is your chance to gain knowledge about yourself and I would expect you to be eager about that."

We waited and she turned back to us.

"I will assign Iruka to tutor you on wolf ways as well as on dark and azure monsters seeing as how you're a hybrid. We can't offer any education on Lorians because of the rarity of their occurrence but we will do what we can," she smiled slightly. "Now, as to your punishment, it will be to study under Mizuki instead of Ebisu for the trouble you still both seem to have with kerning."

Sasuke let out a small sound of protest and I wondered who the hell Mizuki was.

From Tsunade's evil smirk, he was someone I apparently didn't want to study under, especially not sexually.

"In addition, for the safety of everyone on campus, I will be moving you both to live in Emirés _tonight_."

We both spoke at the same time.

"You can't do that!"

"We can _not_ share a room!"

Tsunade chuckled. "You will find, Mr. Uchiha, that as Dean, I _can_ do that. Also, you will not be sharing a room Mr. Namikaze. Rest assured no one wants to find you both dead in a shared room. Any other location would be acceptable."

We glared silently while she smiled. "Emirés is a section of the university where we house dangerous monsters and where we also have most of the complex and possibly dangerous lessons for the students in the higher years."

I knew Tsunade was explaining all that for me and it helped greatly that she didn't say it all like I was an idiot. Even though I could practically hear her thinking it.

"But," Sasuke started impatiently. "We aren't dangerous, we just-"

"Are likely to kill anyone near you should you kern again. It was a close call today," she cut in. "You will have adjoined rooms assigned in a suite specially designed for Kerners such as yourselves in the Emirés dungeons. You will not be required to see each other at all, except perhaps for lessons involving chakra control with Mizuki. You will continue to attend your lessons with your course mates and will not miss classes. If you kern again, I will see to it that you begin private tutoring at a considerable cost to your parents. And for any violent conduct after this, you will both be _severely_ reprimanded."

We nodded slowly when she raised an eyebrow at us.

"You will have all your meals in the privacy of your rooms, since it seems you are both into the nasty habit of leaking and eating at the same time."

Great, I was being lectured on my second day of school. How pathetic was this? It was like I was back in kindergarten, being asked why I had glued play dough to a little girl's hair. No one ever assumed that maybe she had it coming...

Besides, Sakura forgave me for that.

And now, like some sick twisted Punk'd episode, I was being moved to the Emirés dungeons...with dangerous monsters...and Sasuke.

I'd take the monsters' company over Sasuke's.

"Er...won't it be unsafe for us to be there? And why the dungeons? What if the monsters that are actually dangerous get to us and-"

Tsunade laughed heartily at that. "Oh, relax. Most are just like you. They have a few incidents but are generally good students. Of course, most are second years and over as I haven't really had the chance to observe any deadly first years in the two whole days since the semester began but don't let that throw you off."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Besides, every monster living in Emirés is assigned a guard so they will be safe and protected at all times, whether they know it or not," Tsunade continued to explain. "So you will both be perfectly safe. And away from potential victims. And out of my hair."

When we continued to stare at her a moment longer, she groaned. "_That_ was my dismissal tone. You'd do well to remember it. I expect you'll be hearing a lot of it in the future."

I snorted lightly and started to leave when she added, "You might want to also remember my tone of great disapproval. It shall probably be a constant in our meetings."

We walked to the door in silence but the moment I opened it, two people fell in. They'd apparently been listening in and were pretty incompetent in their spying techniques.

Kyuubi and Itachi waved from their positions on the floor, trying to appear nonchalant- though how they assumed they could manage that from the floor was beyond me.

Not caring for there particular brand of stupidity and just wanting to get away from the Uchiha, I stepped on them -being sure to dig my heel in- and walked away.

As no one followed me, I was free to walk the abnormally huge hallways absentmindedly, greatly annoyed with everything that had just happened.

I hadn't been betrothed to that bastard for even a week and he was already ruining my life. Maybe if I was lucky, some unsuspecting monster in Emirés wouldn't care where he'd been and would just eat him.

The light in the hallway suddenly flickered and I froze.

My chakra pulsed but I didn't kern.

It almost seemed like it was responding to something.

Something...or someone...was nearby.

I looked around but didn't see anything. The hallway had no doors and was unbelievably long.

Then something important occurred to me.

I had no idea where I was.

Fuck.

The last time I'd been to Tsunade's office (yesterday), she'd Shifted us back to Dayan.

I didn't know where her office was or even what section of the university it was in. It wasn't like I had any need to know where the administration was and no one had pointed it out.

I frowned, wondering what to do.

I couldn't shout for help, or a map. Especially as whatever was here with me might be fast enough to murder me _before_ anyone came. Or it might give me directions, to it's stomach.

Also, I was too proud to shout.

I mean, what if Sasuke was the one who showed up? That would kill me more thoroughly than any creature could.

At least if I died here, it would be with dignity. And pride. And a completely hopeless sense of direction.

My chakra was now turbulent, mimicking my pounding heart- like it was a dog trying to warn me of impending doom and I was the foolish human asking whether Timmy was stuck in the well.

How stupid was Timmy anyway?

The lights flickered again and I had to calm myself, trying to run through potential courses of action by myself.

Okay...

I couldn't run. That would be a stupid move. And an unnecessary death. Being killed from behind? No thank you. I'd at least want to see my murderer head on, maybe kick him in the nuts before I died. Or, if it's a woman, grab a boob.

Still...deadly monster...must plan...

I paused.

It couldn't be _that_ bad if whatever was here was in the _administration_ section, right?

I mean, Tsunade wouldn't be harbouring murderers right outside her office, would she?

A soft growl suddenly echoed through the hallway and I swore silently.

Apparently she would.

I stayed in the middle of the hallway.

Seeing as how I didn't know what it was, planting myself against the wall would be terribly pointless. What if it could pass through walls like Kyuubi?

Crap.

A hiss followed the growl.

"_Look at him, he's so scared..._" a voice said, chuckling.

I frowned, staring all around me.

"_I think he's looking for us..._" a second voice replied.

Two voices.

There were only two of them... I hoped.

Because of the echo however, I couldn't tell where they were or even if they were approaching or just watching me from afar.

"_He smells delicious._" the first said.

"_Ah yes, this should be the Lorian child, Shukaku_" the other answered.

They sounded like they were getting closer.

_"I expected him to be taller," _the first-Shukaku- said.

I concentrated, calming my breathing. Maybe I could feel them, or at least feel where they were and then...

I paused.

Well, and then I would run like hell in the opposite direction.

"_Is he using his chakra to try find us_?" Shukaku asked. "_Have they learned that already?_"

I scowled. Where the hell were they-

Aw crap.

I looked up and suddenly, there they were. Right in front of me.

Barely two feet away.

I let out a surprised (read: _terrified_) sound and stumbled backward away from them, falling on my butt and wincing.

"What the hell-" I whispered, my heart pounding against my rib cage, obviously trying to escape and abandon me. The traitor.

Two giant animals were staring down at me- a raccoon and a snake.

The snake looked curious while the raccoon seemed amused...and bloodthirsty.

Shit, shit, _shit_...

The snake, a giant purple viper that looked like it could use me as a toothpick instead of food, tilted it's head to the side, apparently finding my reaction interesting. "_Lorian, you can see us?_"

I nodded.

What, did he assume I tended to find _air_ terrifying?

The raccoon made a pleased sound and I backed away.

What was pleasing for it could not be terribly pleasant for me.

He moved forward and I shuffled back faster.

"_Hm, he _can_ see us,_" Shukaku said, grinning.

Like two giant predators weren't bad enough, now one was showing me its teeth. Something I found highly unnecessary as I had not doubted it's ability to rip me to shreds at all. It's not like I'd asked for _proof_.

"_Why are you alone?_" the snake asked.

I gaped at it. "I didn't realise I was supposed to invite others to my murder."

The snake chuckled and then looked surprised by the act that it had actually been amused.

Yes, I'm just making this better for him. Dinner and a show.

The two of them watched me and I watched back, growing more and more impatient.

"Look," I said, barely hiding the tremble in my voice. "Stop staring at me and just eat me already. The waiting is torture."

The snake looked confused for a moment before it shook it's head and bowed. "_I'm Manda._"

Oh great, it wanted to be polite before it killed me.

I sighed. "Nice to meet you."

It seemed to doubt that but said, "_We aren't going to eat you._"

I snorted. "Whatever you say. Just get on with it."

The raccoon rolled it's eyes at that. "_We're guards_."

I blinked. "I'm sorry, _what_?"

"_Were you raised by humans?_" Shukaku huffed impatiently. "_We are guards. You know, animal spirits that protect the students while they are in Emirés_."

I blinked again. "I'm sorry, _what_?"

Shukaku sighed. "_Look kid, why are you here?_"

I shrugged. "I was in Tsunade's office and when I left, I had no idea where I was going and ended up...here."

"_So you're lost_."

It sounded silly put like that.

"Yes," I grumbled.

"_The Administration block is attached to Emirés,_" Manda said. "_So that the lecturers or the Dean may be here at a moment's notice, should anything happen. This is a dangerous place. You should not be here."_

I frowned. "I know it's dangerous but I didn't come here on purpose. Besides, I'll be moving in here later today."

"_You mean you will be accommodated here?_" Manda asked, thoughtfully.

I nodded.

Manda sighed. "_Be that as it may, this section is restricted to all students and most lecturers."_

"What's so special about this section?" I asked, all previous fear of being eaten apparently forgotten.

"_You could die in this section,_" Manda replied.

Well, _that_ was a pretty good reason to not be here.

"So...how do I leave?"

The lights flickered again and that eerie feeling came over me again. I hadn't realised it had slowly ebbed away while I'd spoken to the guards.

"Something's here," I whispered.

Manda slithered around me and I cringed inwardly.

I didn't want to die- by snake or unknown monster.

"_You can feel it?_" Shukaku asked me, sounding impressed.

I nodded. "What is that?"

"_Killing intent,_" Manda answered before letting part of his long, ginormous body touch my leg. Before I could flinch away, he hissed. "_Brace yourself_."

And then they were gone.

When I opened my eyes, I was back in Dayan. Everyone was chatting and I was back in my seat.

Kiba looked at me in surprise at my sudden appearance and fell off his seat. The others noticed my presence and started at stare again.

I sighed.

Gaara poked me. "Alright there?"

I nodded.

Tsunade was back at the table and Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

I wondered if he'd been held up in the hallways.

He was a second year so surely he should have been familiar with the school.

I shrugged and took a sandwich Sakura offered me.

When I looked up, Tsunade gave me a strange look, like she was trying to figure something out.

I was so confused.

What the hell had just happened?

Sakura, Gaara and Kiba watched me expectantly and I immediately started to explain everything.

"So..." Kiba stated when I was done. "You're being banished to Emirés on your second day. That's quite the record."

"There are records?" I asked drily.

Sakura nodded. "Of course. The school keeps records for both accomplishments and failures."

"I assume mine is a failure?" I sighed.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Sakura snorted. "It's actually an honour."

I stared at her. "You're kidding."

"I wish," Sakura sighed. "Being put in Emirés shows high levels of power in as much as it shows low levels of control."

"So...?"

"So," Gaara answered, looking a girl across the room in the eye and winking at her. "It means you're a psycho- but a powerful one."

"You say the sweetest things," I fluttered my eye lashes at him.

"When will you move?"

"Probably after dinner. I suppose she'll send someone or something."

"Well," Sakura shrugged. "At least you met two of the guards. Although..." she frowned.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Although what?"

"Although it's strange that you can see them."

"I couldn't at first," I shrugged. "Besides," I leaned back in my seat. "Why would that matter?"

Gaara, once again ignoring the girls and focusing intently on me, answered, "It matters because you aren't supposed to be able to. Most monsters can only sense guards instead of seeing them and sometimes are even able to talk to them and actually understand each other. Noticing their chakra implies great concentration and control, something which you supposedly lack if all your keening is anything to go by. Also, the only monsters able to see them are witches, warlocks and wizards because of their high affinity for familiars... which extends to dead familiars."

"They were freaking huge," I said, shaking my head. "I seriously doubt witches kept them as pets."

Sakura laughed. "Familiars are not pets. They're companions. So it's possible the Guards may have been familiars before they died."

I gaped. "What do you mean, 'before they died'? They weren't dead."

"Guards are animal spirits," Kiba put in, rolling his eyes at me. "They are definitely dead."

"But...they didn't look dead."

Sakura blinked. "Really?"

I nodded.

"But you said they suddenly appeared out of thin air."

"Yeah, they did. But they looked pretty solid."

"Hm," Sakura said, offering nothing more, no matter how much I asked.

I decided to let it go. There was no point trying to get something out of Sakura when she seemed determined to figure it out on her own first.

After dinner, we all went back to our rooms and -lucky me- Itachi was out.

All my stuff was still there so I assumed maybe, hopefully, Tsunade had forgotten.

I flopped onto my bed and pressed my face against my pillow.

The door opened but I didn't move.

"If you're trying to suffocate yourself, I can help hold you down."

Itachi.

I sighed and looked up.

Behind him, Kyuubi waved at me and I forced down a groan.

"Why are you here?"

Kyuubi and Itachi grinned. "We're your farewell party."

Itachi pulled out a bottle of gin and I pressed my face back into the pillow. Maybe it would suffocate me out of courtesy. Or pity.

While the two idiots toasted my leaving, I wondered if I could get the guards to kill them.

"C'mon, let's go."

I lifted my head again and raised an eyebrow at Kyuubi.

He smiled. "We're taking you and Sasuke to Emirés."

I snorted.

"And what? Have us kerning as we walk there?"

"Of course. Besides, we're taking you both to Mizuki for your lessons."

I managed to swallow my curse and nodded.

"No need to pack," Itachi sad, motioning my side of the room with his bottle. "They'll be sent there."

I shrugged and got up.

Sasuke was leaning on the wall in the hallway talking to two of the people I'd seen him with at Dayan and at the lake.

The angel and the lazy bum.

My chakra bristled but I didn't kern. I knew he could feel me standing there but he ignored me diligently.

I watched him, my brain trying to notice weaknesses in his stance that I might exploit in battle. Or assassination, as it were.

Sasuke said something and the Sloth smirked while the mad angel chuckled.

I couldn't help it.

I almost gaped.

"Amazing isn't it?" Itachi whispered by my ear.

I nodded, whispering back. "He seems to be showing lower levels of douche-y ness."

Itachi chuckled and I stepped away from him.

Sakura was off with Hinata and Gaara was probably in a girls room somewhere. Kiba was no doubt, with his fellow pervert, so my friends weren't there to see me off. Besides, they'd see me in class so there was nothing to stress over.

Kyuubi and Itachi walked me to Sasuke and his friends and stopped.

"Ready to go."

Sasuke nodded at his friends before walking ahead of all of us, leading the way out.

Like a bastard.

The night was chilly and I stuffed my hands into my jumper. Would be just my luck to die from pneumonia instead of all the crap I'd been through these past few days.

We followed a large path through the lawn, going passed all the other hostels.

Apart from the occasional whispers and giggles Itachi and Kyuubi were producing, the walk was silent.

At the Emirés entrance, a set of dark mahogany doors with silver dragons for handles, Itachi touched the handle and it blazed blue.

He smiled and motioned for us to follow him.

The Emirés entrance hall was large and had a lot of dark moving paintings, paintings depicting torture, pain, death... One had a woman smiling pleasantly in the country-side and waving at us. I smiled back when I saw her, glad at least one thing was normal here, only to reel back in horrified shock when out of nowhere, her head was chopped off by a giant flying axe. The scene replayed itself over and over and I grimaced.

"I love that picture," Itachi said absently.

He led us up three flight of stairs and finally, down a hallway.

Quite a few monsters were moving around, some I recognised. That demon who'd licked my hand, some guy with white slicked-back hair, the two ghosts...

I snorted.

The ghosts were considered dangerous?

Tch, please.

What were they gonna do? Say 'boo'?

As I watched, someone absentmindedly walked into one of the ghosts and immediately fell to the ground, unmoving.

My jaw succumbed to gravity.

Oh.

So...no touching the ghosts. Got it.

After a few minutes, someone managed to revive the guy on the floor. The ghost seemed to be apologizing profusely.

I sighed.

Suddenly, my chakra pulsed and I paused.

Above us, floating in the air, were animals. Most were small; I saw frogs, cats, a cheetah and even a bored looking chimp. They were chatting occasionally when they passed by each other and each one was following a student below them. Like an obsessed bodyguard.

Itachi, Kyuubi and Sasuke just kept walking and apart from one or two other people, no one else looked up at the spirits floating above them.

One boy was staring up at them intently. He was pale and had short dark hair. His face was expressionless and he seemed kind of unattached to reality. A second later, he lowered his eyes and caught me staring.

He was handsome, I'd give him that. He raised an eyebrow at me and I realised I was still staring.

Far be it from me to blush and look away. I raised an eyebrow back at him and all of a sudden, his eyes took on an interested glint. He looked up at the air over me and I followed his gaze. No guard was watching over me. And there was no guard following him either.

Had he not been assigned one?

He bowed his head slightly at me and then turned, walking down the hallway, twirling a dark stick in his hand.

Oh.

A wand.

He was a warlock.

Sakura had told me that wizards, the paranoid buggers, tended to carry staffs and canes instead of wands. They believed that bigger was better and sometimes, they forgo the use of magic and simply hit people with their canes. Like crazy old men.

We walked passed all those monsters, most of whom watched us with interest before carrying on with what they were doing.

All in all, they seemed like a pretty lively bunch.

We walked all the way to the end of the hallway, nowhere near any of the other rooms, and Itachi opened the door.

"Welcome to the homicidal suite."

Sasuke and I glared at Itachi who had posed dramatically.

"I thought Tsunade said we'd be living in the dungeons," Sasuke stated.

I'd actually forgotten about that.

"Nah, she was just messing with you. The Emirés dungeons have restricted entry."

When he saw no other reaction from us, Itachi made a face and invited Kyuubi to the kitchen area.

Looking around, I noticed it really was a suite. Sasuke and I, as if by unspoken agreement, headed in opposite directions to check it out.

There was a small study with books lining the walls in shelves and three tables with chairs on either side. The room was brightly lit and probably perfect for studying and research.

The next room I found was a pantry stocked with candy and snacks.

I peeped into the kitchen because Itachi and Kyuubi were still in there being stupid and saw it was pretty large.

I walked passed Sasuke to see the rooms he'd just seen and found a large bathroom.

I had a feeling of foreboding and walked into the last two rooms.

Bedrooms.

Right next to each other.

I groaned.

The first room was large and black and gold and a lady had Sasuke's things -or what I supposed were his things- in it. The next room was about the same size and was in shades of blue. Checking the closet, I saw that all my stuff was there, folded, hung, shoes aligned...

Hadn't I just left my stuff still back in my old room?

I shrugged.

Magic, I suppose.

Besides, at least I got to be away from Itachi.

I'd find a way to share a bathroom with Sasuke without murdering him...directly.

I lay down on the big, comfy bed and started to doze off when Kyuubi burst into my room.

"Are you ready?"

I opened one eye and tried to shoo him away.

He snorted at me and came in, dragging me up and along with him. Itachi seemed to be doing the same to Sasuke.

We went into the hallway and walked back down it and down the stairs. Everyone seemed busy doing there own things so no one was particularly gawking at us.

Itachi led us to the second floor hallway and into the first room on the right.

It turned out to be a lecture hall.

Seemed like a pretty stupid place for one.

Sasuke and I looked about the room and scowled when the door suddenly shut behind us.

Itachi and Kyuubi were gone and standing in their place at the door, was who I assumed to be Mizuki.

The man had shoulder length pale white hair and an unapproachable expression on his face.

"Sit."

I moved to a chair and Sasuke took one at the farthest end from me.

Mizuki watched us with an irritated expression on his face.

"Sit right next to each other," he ordered.

I gave him a look that said there was no way in hell that was happening and Sasuke snorted at him.

Mizuki smiled and raised his hand.

A gray wand.

He pointed it at me and suddenly, I was seated right next to Sasuke.

I swore under my breath and swallowed down all the curses that threatened to get out.

"You're here because of your abysmal talent in chakra control. You are both too weak-minded and governed by inferior instincts."

I glanced at Sasuke and he had a blank expression on his face.

I rolled my eyes at that even as Mizuki continued. "I will ensure that you dogs understand what obedience is."

I gaped and Sasuke bristled.

It was one of the greatest insults to a werewolf, to be called a 'dog'.

Mizuki apparently knew that cause he smirked. "Is there something you boys wish to say?"

I was ready to get up, tell him exactly what I wished to say and tell him where he could shove it but Sasuke immediately tugged at my jumper and pulled me back down. He didn't look at me, simply continued to stare blankly at Mizuki.

"Good," the Wanker said pleasantly. "Let's get started. What is all this kerning attributed to?"

When we didn't answer he pointed with his wand at the blackboard behind him.

Words immediately started to appear as if written by an invisible hand as Mizuki dictated.

"You are weak and hate each other. However, the presence of great chakra reserves within your bodies means that you can show the world just how pathetic you really are. This is nothing to be proud of and is a great disadvantage. You will learn to ignore your instinct to kill, like you do your instinct to run around chasing cars and howl at the moon."

Sasuke shifted in his seat and I scowled openly at Mizuki.

"I will break you both," Mizuki grinned, a maniacal glint in his eye. "And then, if I feel the need to bother, I will fix you."

The rest of the time -two whole hours- was filled with Mizuki making disparaging remarks about werewolves.

By the time the so-called lesson was done, I was sure we both hated him more than we hated each other, at least for the moment.

The walk back to our suite was silent and there were no other students in the hallway. I supposed everyone else had gone to bed or something.

Sasuke opened the door and didn't even shut it in my face like I was sure he would have done earlier today.

Hm.

Maybe Mizuki was actually useful.

Sasuke went into the bathroom and I could hear the shower running.

I had no intention of taking a bath before bed. I was freaking exhausted, hygiene would just have to wait.

I walked into my room and turned on the light.

"Hello."

And had a heart attack.

I leaned heavily against the wall, breathing deeply and trying to calm myself down before I murdered the intruder.

It was the boy from earlier, the pale warlock.

He was on my bed, reclining against my pillows and looking perfectly at home.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

He blinked, his blank expression still there.

It was kind of creepy.

For some reason, he reminded me of Gaara.

"Most people would have asked who I am."

"That would be awfully nice of them, giving a crap like that," I retorted. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Lounging," he said, like it was perfectly obvious.

I ran a hand over my tired face.

"Why? Don't you have your own room?"

"I do, but you seem interesting so I decided to meet you."

"And break into my room?"

He shrugged. "I'm good with that sort of stuff. Besides, I didn't break anything."

I stared at him.

He was obviously insane.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Naruto," I said tiredly.

"I'm Sai, it's nice to meet you."

"Cool. Would you leave now?"

He nodded and stood, twirling his wand. "Would you like to be friends?"

I flopped onto my bed and sighed, pressing my face into the pillows. They smelled like baby powder.

"Well?"

I opened my eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Friend. Would you like to be my friend?"

He didn't seem to be particularly worried about my answer but his posture was tense, like he really was hoping I'd say yes.

I assumed a crazy warlock couldn't exactly be mister popular but might be nice to have around.

"Sure," I mumbled, succumbing slowly to sleep.

Sai moved toward me and brushed hair out of my eyes. I blinked blearily up at him and he smiled.

He raised his wand and waved it over me.

I felt a soft tingle and settled. "What did you do?" I whispered.

"A spell. I hope you're worthy."

I shrugged at that and closed my eyes as he waved his wand over me again.

I fell asleep to warmth and the soft scent of baby powder.

**(I am a hardcore gamer page break. Duck hunt FTW!)**

I woke up to a soft knock on my door. Groaning, I yelled for whoever it was to come in, never once thinking it might be Sasuke.

Thank goodness it wasn't him.

A waitress smiled and held out the tray to me. I got up and took it from her and smiled as she bowed and left.

Apparently being a danger to society had perks. Like room service.

I ate hurriedly and got ready for my classes.

I hadn't heard the dragons but my clock showed it was almost eight. If I didn't hurry I wouldn't make it to class.

I took a quick shower, noticing the Uchiha had already been in there and dressed quickly.

My schedule showed that my first class was Potions and Alchemy. Sakura had told me it would be a bit like chemistry in the real world and I sighed.

I hated chemistry.

I ran to Tridant and was in time to see Sasori leading my classmates into the building. I sighed in relief and joined them. Gaara, Sakura and Kiba were at the back and I waited to walk with them.

When they spotted me, Kiba handed Sakura a ten dollar bill and she smirked.

Before I could ask what that was about, Sakura cut me off. "So how was your night?"

I shrugged. "Fine. What did you bet on?"

When neither Kiba nor Sakura spoke, Gaara said, "On whether or not you'd have been pummeled by the Uchiha."

"I had faith that you would act responsibly," Sakura corrected, glaring at Gaara.

I snorted at that.

We didn't walk far. The lecture hall was on the ground floor.

Sasori smiled at me and ruffled my hair as I went in. I made a face at him before I followed Sakura.

The room was bright and had white walls. It felt like it might be an asylum.

High work tables were arranged for pairs and glassware and instruments were placed on them.

I groaned and grabbed Gaara before he could go sit by a girl. Sakura had already been taken by Kiba who had a certain hatred for chemistry, like me, but knew Sakura could definitely help his grade.

The door swung open and the lecturer came in.

He was in a lab coat and looked extremely tired and harried. He had short dark hair, tanned skin and large dark eyes.

He looked at us calmly.

"Welcome to Potions and Alchemy. My name is Professor Yamato and I will be taking you in this course indefinitely." He waved his hand lazily in our direction and white lab coats appeared on our work tables. "From now on, you will be expected to wear these for every lesson. I will hand out a set of rules to be followed in the lab, including dress code."

We hurriedly put on our coats as he continued to talk.

"Potions is an art. It is a science. It is life. Creating a potion is creating a purpose. You will learn to brew everything from love potions to untraceable poisons," he paused. "Alchemy is the science of transmuting common objects into anything else. You could turn a carrot into a pot of gold, you could turn a handsome prince into a toad...you could turn a monster into a human."

People gasped at that and I rolled my eyes.

"Today, we will simply go through the history of Potions and Alchemy and then I will show you how to brew a simple love potion."

The girls squealed in anticipation but I saw Sakura sigh and Hinata looked on, unimpressed. Kiba was staring avidly at Yamato like he couldn't wait to get started.

Beside me, Gaara seemed bored as he took a sip of his juice.

I sighed.

Maybe I could transmute my friends so they could be normal.

Sasori was at the door waiting to take us to our next class.

"I heard you've been moved to Emirés."

I nodded. "Tsunade didn't want my kerning to hurt anyone."

"I see. Are you doing okay there? If you need normal company, could get permission to come see you."

I grinned. "Really?"

He nodded. "Sure, besides, Tsunade kinda hinted to me this morning that she wanted me to help you with knowing all about Konoha and monsters whenever Professor Iruka is unavailable."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I'm kind of clueless."

"Alright then. We can hit the library after your next two classes. We both have a free period then and we can get started."

I thanked him and he shrugged it off, leading us upstairs to our Advanced Mathematics class.

Apparently math couldn't be escaped, no matter where I went.

The lecturer, Asuma, was pretty cool and a bit crazy. He was dressed casually in a smart shirt and jeans. His dark hair obviously hadn't seen a comb in a while but was tied up anyway and he had a put out cigarette dangling from his lips.

His class was...nuts.

After making sure we could all count, by making us sing "99 bottles of beer on the wall", he let us go with our assignment being to make sure we could count to hundred.

Sakura didn't exactly enjoy his class it seemed. She had prepared her mind for integration, differentiation and matrices and all she got was counting. She was mad we hadn't even at least done sets or something.

Our next class was in a circular room in Tridant's second tower.

Healing and Remedies 101.

Our lecturer, Kurenai, was extremely beautiful. She had blood red eyes and long, wavy dark hair. She was also in a short, tight white dress which left nothing to our imagination as to what her figure was.

With the boys drooling and the girls irritated, the lesson began.

"Good morning students." Even her voice was hot, warm and sultry. I sighed. "Welcome to Healing and Remedies 101. This class is essential to anyone wishing to go into the medical field and as such, it will also be extremely challenging.

The art of healing involves many factors, knowing what substances may affect different types of monsters and finding ways to counter diseases, allergies, bites and even chakra mishaps."

We wrote frantically as she spoke, seeming more driven by a need to impress her than by actually listening to whatever the hell she was saying.

By the end of the class, my hand was cramped and so were the hands of the other boys. I assumed they would be further injured because they had a free couple of hours alone with their thoughts of Kurenai.

Sasori smirked when he saw me. "Kurenai?"

I nodded.

"Ah yes, the general first impression of the succubus on you unsuspecting freshmen."

I blinked. "Instead of worrying me, that's actually just served to increase her hotness."

The redhead chuckled. "Don't worry. Her effects wear off when she dumps loads of assignments on you. Then it becomes more of a hate/wank relationship."

I laughed and waved at my friends as we walked away. Sakura looked puzzled but Gaara and Kiba were still in a Kurenai daze. Well, Gaara was recovering pretty quickly if his advance on one of our classmates was anything to go by.

"The library is the fourth tower in Tridant," Sasori explained as we walked around the massive building.

"Do you mean it's in the fourth tower?"

He shook his head with a knowing smile as he led the way into the tower. "The whole tower is the library."

I groaned as I stared at it. It was freaking huge. And this was just the first floor. Books lined the endless shelves and cases and I had a hard time not just passing out or running out into freedom.

Sasori grabbed my arm as if he could sense my escape plans and pulled me to one of the desks. I sat down by him and saw that there weren't many people in the library. It surprised me that Sakura wasn't there. I'm sure she was just varying herself. Once she was in full study mode, nothing could stop her.

"Do you have any assignments?" Sasori asked, pulling out a book from his backpack.

I nodded. "Okay, do them all today. I'll help you if you need it but trust me when I say you have to get them out of the way."

I sighed and nodded. He glanced at my assignments and pointed at a shelf. "You'll find most of the books you need over there."

I thanked him and went to get them.

Sasori did his own work as I started on my essays. My hand hurt but it felt good to actually be doing something useful. Also, I was learning tons of things, like how pixies had recently been moved from azure status to dark monsters. Something about their innate evil...

I wrote down tons of points I needed for each assignment, figuring I'd write the actual essays later that night.

When I was done, it was almost time for my next class.

Sasori walked there with me, waving off my thanks as he gathered the rest of the first years to take us to our next class, Magical Creatures, with Anko.

Instead of taking us into Tridant, he led us to the lakes.

"Professor Anko will be along shortly," he announced before he pulled me aside. "Do you know anyone in Emirés?"

"Apart from Sasuke? Well, there's Sai."

Sasori frowned for a moment before a slight smile graced his face. "Good. Stick to him and you'll be fine."

I wanted to ask what the hell he meant by that but he said goodbye and rushed off to his next class.

"What was that about?" Kiba asked, coming to stand by me.

"Making sure I don't get killed in Emirés," I explained.

The animagus grinned. "Aw, does he wuv you?"

"Asshole," I kicked his shin. Hard.

As Kiba yelled about how I was a bastard, Anko suddenly appeared.

She looked fresh and happy and not at all bored like she'd been the day before. She was in a long, flowing dark trench coat and was twirling a dagger between her fingers.

"Come closer to me."

The moment we were all surrounding her, she smiled. "I just needed you out of the way."

With that, she out her fingers other mouth and whistled loudly.

A second later, the water in the lake rippled. We all edged closer to her and she grinned an evil grin.

"Today children, we'll learn about water dragons."

Large webbed claws erupted from the water, followed by long scaly bodies as the giant lizard-looking dragons pulled themselves out of the water. They were dark blue in colour with patches of green that might have been weeds or mulch. Their ears, claws and two tails, were all webbed. They settled calmly on the grass in front of the lake and stared at us.

"These dragons are called Aumbreas. They can last half a day out of water but no longer than that. They are almost completely docile except when they are expected to be used for transport. Then they get a little touchy."

Briefly, I wondered if her version of "touchy" was anything like my own.

"They have been known to be great lovers of mischief and are surprisingly loyal to those they consider worthy. For this class, I want you all to pair up and take notes on the characteristics of the dragons. Each pair will have one dragon. Also, try not to offend them. Near the end of the lesson, when this timer goes off, I want you all to try saddle and ride each of the dragons. They will take you a short way into the lake and bring you right back. That will be part of your grade."

She proceeded to place a small timer on the ground and waved as she walked away.

"I'll be watching you!"

I sighed as Sakura dodged Kiba and went off to join Shino.

Kiba looked affronted but by the time he was done being denied by Sakura, his only option was me, Gaara or Hinata who had foregone looking for a partner and simply stood staring at the first dragon. Before Kiba could come for me, I quickly walked off to Hinata.

He shot me a glare before sighing and glumly walking toward Gaara.

Gaara was off by the lake, at the farthest end, looking cool as the breeze swept through his hair. He stood by the last dragon in the line, managing to make the dragon look like it wasn't worth his time.

The narcissistic bugger.

Hinata glanced at me when I came up to her.

"Hey."

"Hi," she answered, taking out her notebook. I grabbed mine from my backpack and started to write as she occasionally spoke.

"Webbed feet and ears," she called softly.

I wrote that down and offered my own observation. "Twin tails, also webbed."

"Overall blue colours of scales. Green is from algae."

We worked like that the whole time and finally were back to it's face.

"Yellow condescending eyes," I mumbled.

Hinata snorted and wrote that.

The timer went of and I sighed, putting my backpack down and placing my notebook in it.

Saddles and ropes appeared by each pair and we all stared at the dragons who suddenly seemed much less docile now that they all bared their teeth at us.

Their sharp, deadly teeth.

"Did we write about their teeth?" I asked thoughtfully.

Hinata shot me a disbelieving look before she shook her head and picked up the rope, walking toward the beast.

The dragon reared back, shaking it's head and growling at her.

Hinata sighed irritably at the Aumbrea, "I won't ride you if you don't want me to but at least let me touch you."

_"That's what she said!_" My brain provided and my eyes watered with barely controlled mirth.

Hinata sighed at me. "Perverted moron."

I winked at her and she motioned for me to come closer. "Come help me, you sicko."

I moved forward and stood by her again. "Any plans?"

"Take over Germany and then invade Italy."

"I meant about the dragon."

"Oh. Me, too."

"Right. Any plans to do with the lesson?"

"Stay uneaten," she said with a shrug, never once letting her eyes off the dragon.

"That's more of a goal than a plan," I pointed out.

"I think it happens to be more important than an actual plan," she stated plainly, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Think we could beat it into submission?"

"Yeah, in our dreams," I muttered. "And even then it'd probably _still _eat us."

"You must be pretty lame in your dreams," she scoffed.

"Please, I'm constantly awesome," I made a face at her.

She rolled her eyes at me before turning away from the dragon entirely. "No one else is having any luck so I'm gonna stop trying now."

"Your enthusiasm is encouraging."

She looked over at Gaara who was partnered with Kiba and letting the animagus do all the work (swearing at the dragon) while he stared fixedly at a girl who was somehow both trying to impress him with her dragon skills and trying to make her blouse show more boob than it already did. If she pulled her shirt any lower, it would be a belt.

"Tch, vampires," Hinata snorted softly.

"You wanna bang them, too?" I smirked,

"Yeah, with a stake," she smirked back. "Angels are immune to dark allure, stupid."

"You seem to insult me a lot," I pointed out.

"You seem to deserve my insults. A lot."

Before I could retort, Hinata picked up a stone. "How about this?" she nodded over at Gaara. "Whoever hits Dracula over there first gets to sit this out and watch the other try tame this stubborn beast."

"Of course not. Gaara's my _best friend." _I said with proper indignation just as she threw her stone. The tiny rock somehow managed to go nowhere near Gaara, like it had anti-Gaara GPS and promptly plopped into the lake behind us.

Wow, she sucked.

I grinned slowly. "Well, I'm sure as my best friend he'll understand that me assaulting him is for a good cause."

Hinata frowned and I picked up a small white stone. I threw it but misjudged my strength. It sailed right over his head.

When I turned to her, Hinata smirked.

There was a mischievous evil glint in her eye, and even before she threw the stone and I heard a resounding smack and yell, I knew I'd just been hustled.

I gaped at her as she smirked, ignoring Gaara's undignified promises of murder when he found out who'd attacked him, thinking how evil she actually was.

"Are you _sure _you're an angel?" I asked curiously. "DNA test and everything?"

Hinata blew her bangs up again, "Of course, now get to it."

I huffed and moved closer to the dragon. "Let me on and I'll let you eat her," I motioned at Hinata. Maybe bribery would work.

The dragon then did something completely unexpected.

It chuckled.

Hinata and I stared at it with disbelief.

It bowed low to us and I took the opportunity to throw the saddle over it and run underneath the huge beast to tie it up so the saddle would drop.

When I was done, I returned stealthily to Hinata's side.

"Are you just messing with us?" Hinata asked, eyeing the dragon with distrust. "Cause if you eat me, I swear I will make sure you have the worst constipation of your life."

"Way to keep it from eating us," I muttered.

"I say we cover ourselves in poison just in case," she muttered back.

I glanced at her. "I can't believe I thought you were normal."

"Normal people get eaten. It takes a particular brand of genius to stay alive."

"And so modest, too."

"Can we just jump him?" she asked, choosing to ignore me.

"All this sexual innuendo can't be good for your angel status."

She shoved me and I staggered back. "The purpose of the class is to ride the dragon so-" she stopped, planting her face in her palm as I broke into another fit of laughter.

She sighed. "You're hopeless."

I nodded. "Yeah, probably. But don't let me stop you. Go on, ride him."

She shot me an exasperated glance and ran toward the dragon. It watched her with bare interest and she managed to gain enough momentum to jump and get on, placing herself on the first seat of the two-person saddle.

Grinning triumphantly and ignoring the irritated sounds from our classmates who were still failing to put their saddles on, Hinata motioned for me to get on, too.

"What if it needs one person as the rider and the other as a sacrifice?" I asked, not missing the way the dragon was watching me intently.

"What?"

I shook my head. "What if I'm the pre-flight snack?"

"Then I suppose I'll have a nice flight."

"You are-"

"Will you just _get on with it_?" the dragon said.

We stared, jaws dropped.

It looked from me to Hinata and said, "What? You thought I couldn't speak?"

"Your earlier growling could hardly be mistaken for speech," Hinata offered.

"I suppose," it said, grinning. "But your mischief impressed me."

"Thank you," I said, still eyeing it warily. "So you aren't going to eat me?"

It shook it's head.

"But if you get hungry, you should probably know that Hinata is more filling," I added.

"_Seriously_?" Hinata glared.

"What? It's true."

"I'd rather not be constipated," the dragon answered.

I chuckled as Hinata sighed.

I edged closer before also running and pulling off Hinata's stunt, landing in the saddle behind her.

The Aumbrea started to turn toward the water but before it could dive in, a sudden outraged roar filled the air. Looking over to it's source, my blood ran cold.

For some reason best known to probably anyone but me, Gaara's dragon was upset and was thrashing wildly about. It was spinning and clawing at air, it's tails swinging furiously about it as it roared and growled.

I took in a sharp breath when I noticed it's tail was about to hit Kiba. Gaara suddenly appeared by Kiba's side and pushed him out of the way in time before falling to the ground to avoid the dragons tail.

Angry beyond reason, the dragon faced Gaara with murder in it's eyes. The stubborn vampire stood and stared at it, maintaining eye contact like that would keep it from killing him.

Hell, maybe Gaara was gonna try use his bedroom eyes on it. Stranger things had happened.

What happened next however, was completely lost on me.

The dragon sprang at Gaara and one second I was thinking I had to get to him and save him, and the next I was in front of the dragon having successfully taken Gaara's spot somehow.

I looked for my friend and saw him in the air, swiped out from what would have been a fatal blow to his head from the dragon's claw, by Hinata.

She flew over the dragon with Gaara in her arms like a sack of potatoes, her white wings shining brightly in the sun and I growled at the dragon, getting it's attention so it didn't just follow her and kill them both.

The dragon eyed me distastefully.

"Calm down," I ordered, like I was in any position to do so.

It snorted and raised it claw to strike.

I crouched low and phased, figuring I'd have a better chance at survival and speed in my wolf form.

The dragon paused and I growled again. "Whatever happened, I'm sure it was an accident. Calm down."

I was big, sure, but the dragon could very well just sit on me and kill me with one large butt cheek.

However, instead of ending my life as a reward for my misguided bravery, the dragon sighed and bowed to me. "I apologise."

I gaped in disbelief. "You're shitting me."

The dragon looked amused at that. "Your animagus friend was yelling at me," it said. "I suppose I overreacted in my irritation."

I breathed in deeply in relief.

I always knew Kiba's extremely high propensity for being annoying would get him killed one day.

it just wasn't today.

"Okay kiddies!" Anko shouted, having suddenly appeared again. "I'll let it slide that you failed today. Obviously I'd not accounted for homicidal dragons but we will try this again later this week! Now scram!"

We all walked warily away from the crazy lecturer and toward Dayan. I walked with them cause I didn't want to head to Emirés just yet, even though I couldn't eat with them.

Kiba, Sakura, Gaara and Hinata watched as Anko talked to the psycho dragon while the others slipped back silently into the water. I stood aside, waiting for them.

They eventually started walking again.

"Crazy dragon," Kiba muttered, before shoving Gaara with his shoulder. "Thanks."

Gaara nodded and then glanced at Hinata. "Uh..."

She shrugged, cutting him off. "Don't mention it. Ever."

He seemed fine with that but then, a mischievous glint entered his eyes and Sakura groaned at what she knew would follow. "So you didn't save me so I'd be so grateful we'd shag in an "_I'm so glad we're alive_" kind of way?" his voice was light and teasing, something I knew most girls loved about him. "Are you absolutely positive you don't want me?"

I expected Hinata to toss him back to that last dragon but she surprised me by stepping closer to Gaara.

"You're right. I _do _want you," she leaned in to whisper in his ear. "On the ground, right now, soaking the grass with your blood as I pull the stake out of your mangled heart."

Gaara shivered and tried to move closer to Hinata who just snorted and walked away, leaving him looking like a lost puppy.

Sakura smirked at Gaara and she and Kiba walked off after her roommate.

As we watched the girls leave, Gaara tugged at my sleeve. "I'm _so _gonna shag that girl."

"_Sakura_?" I asked incredulously.

"Hinata, you moron."

"You'd have better luck with Sakura."

Gaara smirked but a moment later, he looked at me curiously and asked, "So, how did you do that?"

I blinked. "Do what?"

"When you pushed me out of the way. You'd Shifted, and dragged Hinata along with you. That's not something you should even be able to do."

I knew he was right. Somehow. I'd definitely never shifted before so...

"That was Hinata, not me," I said, sure I was right. "It's not like I'd be able to and besides, that would imply I could to instantaneous magic."

Gaara's eyes widened and he smirked. "Look who's been studying."

I shoved him. "Moron."

We walked a little way further before I stopped and told him I was heading back to Emirés.

He nodded and paused. "If you _could _do instantaneous magic, it wouldn't be weird."

I decided to humour him. "Why not?"

"Your mother is a witch, Naruto," Gaara stated slowly. "And with witches, wizards and warlocks being the only ones capable of magic that fast..."

I snorted, stopping his train of thought. "I'm all wolf."

"You're a hybrid."

I shrugged and waved, walking away from the crazy vampire.

I hadn't expressed any warlock traits in all my life. I was hardly going to start now.

**(I am a SIMS page break. I like to slap people)**

Although I didn't get to eat with my friends, when I walked back to Emirés to my room, I found Sai waiting against the wall.

He smiled at me and asked if I wanted to go eat lunch with him and the others. It turned out Emirés students- being dangerous possible future serial killers- we were allowed to assemble for meals together if we wished and we did so on the roof.

There were quite a few tables and some were unoccupied. Three were almost full and Sai led me to one of them. We sat at the end, serving ourselves while some of the others greeted us and went back to their conversations.

The others were fairly pleasant and I noticed that the ghosts weren't there so I asked Sai about it.

"Tsunade gave a few of us special permission to still eat meals in Dayan," Sai explained. "Of course, only after we proved we weren't too dangerous. Pein and the ghosts have permission."

"How come?"

"Pein is more difficult when he's by himself. He goes all emo and psychopathic. It's better to have him near faculty anyway. But the ghosts aren't so bad when you don't go around walking through them."

"So why are you here?" I asked Sai. "I thought wizards and witches were Azures and harmless or something...

He smirked. "I'm a _vampire_."

His fangs extended as he smiled.

Nice. Another one.

"Vampires aren't exactly dangerous as a rule so why are you here?"

Sai smirked. "I attacked a lecturer."

"Shouldn't you have been expelled?"

Sai shrugged. "I wasn't in control of myself. It was an accident. Besides, he survived and Tsunade is all about second chances."

I hummed.

"So what's with the wand?

He shrugged. "What indeed."

_Asshole_...

Lunch was fun, especially when two monsters, a rain woman and a pyres, decided to have a mock battle.

I walked to my next class after lunch and listened to Kiba retelling the crazy dragon story which somehow, he managed to embellish even though it had just happened barely an hour before.

The rest of the day went by splendidly with Tsunade showing up to yell at us for being brave before congratulating us on acting quickly and honourably.

I didn't miss her exasperated glance in my direction.

She looked like, at the thought of seeing me causing trouble -or being involved in trouble-, she was considering retiring immediately.

I grinned at her and waved as she left.

Our last two classes for the day were Chakra control with Ebisu and A history of Monsters with Iruka.

Iruka's class definitely made up for the terrible bore that was Ebisu.

I went back to my room, actually pleased with how things had turned out.

I hadn't seen Sasuke at all all day...and if I had my way, I wouldn't have to.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day, after I'd had dinner in my room (opting out of going upstairs with Sai), Kyuubi came to make sure we attended our lesson with Mizuki. I didn't tell him that Mizuki seemed to be somewhat biased against werewolves. I was determined not to give the evil Wanker the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten to me.

Sasuke was looking well, something that I found mildly irritating, and sneered in my direction. I swallowed down my growl as we got to the lecture hall.

Sasuke's face immediately lost all expression and became a blank mask. He took a seat and I sat by him, not giving Mizuki something to get started on.

I looked on indifferently as we waited silently, sitting side by side, waiting for our executioner.

**XOXOXO**

**A/N: Bows thank you for all ye reviews.**

**Sasuke and Naruto interaction will increase in the next chapter. I figure I'll stick to Naruto's POV from now on.**

**XOXOXO**

**For Sasuke and Naruto finally getting it on, press 1**

**For an endless chocolate rain, press 2**

**For Gaara giving you his "come hither" stare, and of course world domination, press 3**

**For "why the hell aren't the above buttons working?", click the review button below and leave a message.**


	9. wicked weekends and wild warfare

**Destined**  
By Rizember

**-xx-xxxx-xx-  
A/N: JUST CORRECTING THE FORMAT**

**-xx-xx-  
Chapter 9: Wicked weekends and other wild warfare**

-xx-

Four days had passed since Tsunade declared my badassed-ness and removed me from the Mweru hostels into Emirés and I was happy to say I had survived all four of

them.

Classes were interesting, even the chemistry ones, considering there was so much I didn't know about even the most basic of monster knowledge.

It had me going between two extremes: resenting my parents for not having taught me much about Konoha and loving them for leaving out so much information that I

actually found it interesting.

My days were filled with classes and friends and my nights were filled with Sasuke, Mizuki and dreams of murdering them both.

I had to admit, Mizuki now just served to add a new hate target instead of getting rid of the old one. But neither me nor Sasuke had kerned yet so that was something.

Maybe Mizuki being a douche took special training and was actually a pre-requisite for teaching people to stop kerning.

While Mizuki occasionally found time in his insults to actually say something about chakra control, it was usually only to point out that we lacked it.

Needless to say, there was so much killer intent from me and Sasuke going toward him that I supposed we greatly lessened that for ourselves.

I'd been eating from my room, not that I was avoiding Sai or any of the other future convicts I was living with, but I just found myself suddenly too busy for company.

Iruka hadn't yet managed to work out any free time so all my free periods were spent with Sasori in the library.

When Sakura had found out, she'd started coming, too and dragging the others along with her, saying she didn't want any of us to be kicked out if school in our first

year.

But, joy of joys, it was _finally_ Friday.

I wondered what it was monsters in college did on weekends, especially seeing as how we weren't allowed to go home.

When I asked, Sasori had simply smiled and said, "What _don_'_t_ we do?"

So, it was with great anticipation that I went through my classes, knowing that afterwards, I'd have to meet with Sasori in the library and _then_ I'd see what all the fuss

was about.

I could feel the excited tension everywhere I went.

Other years looked like they wanted nothing more than to skip their next classes and get to the good part and all the whispering they were doing was killing my

nerves.

My first two classes were both two-hour periods.

I sat in my first class of the day and suppressed all my groans.

I was sitting between Kiba and Gaara who seemed just as edgy as me.

Advanced math with Professor Asuma.

It blew by mostly because he knew we couldn't wait for it to end so he had us taking notes and solving equations the whole time we were in there, being sure that we

were too preoccupied with feeling like idiots who couldn't add, to actually concentrate on the fact that it was a Friday.

Sasori looked amused as he led us to our next class but didn't say anything.

Kurenai wasn't so understanding.

She gave us so much work for slacking off and daydreaming that we were sure the only time we'd get it all done would be _after_ we graduated.

Glumly, we left her class with Sasori who seemed to be doing his best to not speak at all.

Monster Psychology with professor Kotetsu however, was fun and unfortunately, only one hour long before lunch time.

We had discovered during the week that Kotetsu had some seriously strange form of multiple personality disorder.

Either that or he was just nuts.

He wore extravagantly weird outfits everyday.

So far, he'd been a biker, a judge (complete with stupid-looking wig) and a fairytale prince.

Today though, he was apparently a caveman.

At least, I _hoped_ he was a caveman. Otherwise the animal skin loin cloth was completely inappropriate.

"Good afternoon class," he greeted pleasantly.

We mumbled greetings back and he turned his hand with a flourish.

Abruptly, the ceiling turned into a detailed map of the school. Except for some things that struck me as quiet different from the real thing.

Like, on the map, the strip of land between the two lakes was missing and also, according to the image, the whole university was surrounded by the lake.

Like it was a moat.

Or like the university was an island on a lake.

Ridiculous.

"Today, we will focus on the way a monster's surroundings affect them, using our university as an example," Kotetsu started.

"Those of you who are more observant than others will have already seen the differences between the map above and what you see when you're outside.

The most noticeable thing, is the water surrounding the university that only appears to be two lakes to you when you see it outside. Who can tell me which is the

reality and which is the illusion?"

Gaara lifted his glass, swirling the blood-substitute and Kotetsu nodded at him.

"The illusion is what we see," Gaara said in his bored drawl. "The reality is that the university is surrounded by what would looked like a moat on a small scale but is

actually one large body of water."

"Very good," Kotetsu nodded. "And why is that?"

"To accommodate the wards protecting the school," Gaara replied. "Which are mostly water-based protections. Also, the illusion is there to prevent the monsters that

would feel claustrophobic from losing their minds."

I looked at the vampire sitting by me, impressed.

"Exactly," Kotetsu said with a pleased smile. "Certain monsters are likely to have adverse effects if they know that they are closed in, especially considering the fact

that Konoha University _is_ actually an island.

I gaped as did most of the other students.

The water around the school now suddenly seemed to much more foreboding.

"The island rests on Lake Keylan. Monsters that have natural fire or earth based powers like pyres and aries, would react to the knowledge instinctively. Their powers

would lash out or would diminish, until they feel that they can not do any magic. Does anyone know any other changes in the map?"

"The waterfall behind the forest," Kiba said without preamble, apparently not to be out down by a vampire.

Gaara smirked.

Kotetsu nodded. "Yes, however, like Emires, that area is restricted and extremely dangerous. And because some of you idiots will probably see that as a dare and go

off looking for it, it's best that you know that the waterfall is also covered by wards and if you happen to go anywhere near it, chances are you will end up waking in

circles until we come find you. Or your remains."

I stared at the map looking for the waterfall. Looking at the school, the buildings were right near the edge of the island and behind all the buildings was a dense forest

almost forming a crescent around the university.

At the very end of the island, right at the forest's edge and farthest away from the university buildings, was a waterfall. The image seemed to move forward when I

was searching for it, almost as if it was being helpful just for me.

"Why do we call them lakes then?" a girl asked from the back. "And won't the fact that we know we're closed in now affect us?"

Kotetsu grinned. "Excellent questions. We call them 'the Keylan lakes' because it helps the illusion as well as your assurance. Even though you know, the fact that your

eyes see what they see will affect any information that you now know to be true. That's the beauty of illusions. Especially large scale ones like these."

"So what other illusions are there?" the goat boy, faun, whatever, who I had found out was called Adam, asked.

"Well, there's the obvious one for the air monsters," Kotetsu said with an evil grin. "They can not fly over one mile into the sky."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Kiba said with a snort.

"Most monsters are typically used to flying much higher than that," the professor said, looking at Kiba like he'd heard what he said.

Kiba shifted uneasily in his seat.

"The reactions would be similar to earth and fire monsters with water but for air monsters, this knowledge would result in actual illness, as if they were caged, underfed

birds."

"Won't they know they aren't flying high?"

"You'd think that but once again, that's the beauty of illusions. They don't always just have to be what you see. They affect _all_ the senses. Magic could be used to

change what you taste, feel, hear, smell and see. So while they are flying out there and thinking they are almost astronauts, in reality, without too many clouds, we

could probably see them."

"What about neutral monsters?" another person asked.

"Ah yes, neutral mosters," Kotetsu said thoughtfully. "You see, very few monsters actually have natural-born affinities for elements as they are _just_ monsters.

For example, witches use magic well but do not have any particular affinity and as such, while a mother may control fire, her daughter can control water.

For monsters like hydruids, it is standard. You and _your_ ancestors will all control water, without exception.

In your second year, you will each find out which element you are most suited for. Not everyone can master an element and to be fair, not everyone has an affinity for

one, but with even the smallest chance that air likes you, that will be your affinity and you will train to control it.

We can all use magic but you'll find that monsters that have natural talents for particular elements excel in magic to do with those elements. For example, water fey

magic is unparalleled except by water spirits and pyres have excellent fire production, not so much fire _control_. Aries have the best earth magic and for flying dragons,

air. These are not restrictions, however, as magic is magic, whether it takes specific forms or not.

So, in a battle, Aries can make all the earthquakes they want but that won't stop someone from simply shooting them in the head."

Kotetsu went on to explain the other details that were there and effectively kept us interested for the rest of his time.

Before the others walked to Dayan, Sakura pulled me aside. She'd taken to sitting away from us with Hinata and Lucy, the diclonious girl.

She looked worried.

"Naruto, do you think maybe we could try talk Tsunade into letting you back into Dayan? It's no fun without you questioning everything."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "I do _not_ question everything. I ask questions _about_ everything. Get you grammar right."

Sakura gave me a dry look. "Whatever nerd. What do you say?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't mind."

"Way too be enthusiastic about it," she muttered.

I smiled. "Emirés isn't so bad."

"I just don't what you to get hurt."

"Don't worry, I'm awesome."

"Yes, I'm sure that powerful phrase will keep death away."

"Been working so far."

Sakura sighed and walked away, muttering about how I was a newly evolved kind of moron.

"I heard that!" I shouted.

"I didn't say you were a _deaf_ moron!" she shouted back.

I waved at the guys and ran to Emirés.

This being Friday, I wanted to see if I could get as much information as I could from the older years.

I found Sasori at the entrance talking to Sai.

"Hi," I greeted.

"Naruto," Sai turned to me. "Lunch?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm eating with you guys today."

Sai smiled slowly. "Sure."

Sasori rolled his eyes at that before stepping in front of me and saying, "Drink him and I'll kill you."

Sai chuckled.

It was then that I noticed that instead of his wand twirling away in his hand, he had a large juice bottle with a straw.

I blanched, looking at Sai warily.

"You're a vampire."

Sai winked. "Yes and might I say what a _struggle_ it has been to not drink you."

Sasori sighed at that before he turned to face me. "He likes to talk a lot of vampire smack but he's trustworthy."

"Which was why you had to warn him first?" I asked drily.

"Exactly," he smiled. "Anyway, I'm off to Dayan. I'll see you after your next class."

I frowned. "But...I have a free period."

"Library," Sasori said in a voice that brooked no argument, especially with how he was now gripping his wand, like he'd challenge me to a duel if I refused to study.

"Fine," I grumbled.

He smiled, pleased as punch and waved.

Left with Sai, I frowned.

"Why do you have a wand if you're a vampire?" I asked him directly.

He chuckled. "Somehow I doubt that's a mystery that'll eat you up inside but I will tell you one day."

"Are you a Lorian?" I asked.

Sai chuckled. "Both my parents are vampires. Besides, you should know," he stepped forward into my personal bubble. "You're the only Lorian alive."

"Do vampires count as being 'alive'?" I asked, moving away.

"Of course," he grinned, showing his fangs. "We just have terribly blood-thirsty reputations and rumours of all this undead business following us around..."

With that, he turned and led the way up teh stairs to the roof where the others were eating.

Sasuke was sitting at a table in the corner talking to a group of people and if all their laughter was anything to go by, he was either making a complete arse of himself,

or he was telling one hell of a story.

My money was on him being an arse.

Sai sat down by the rain-woman, a girl called Gesha who always had a rain cloud right over her head and a group of other monsters.

It was difficult to know what type of monsters they were, especially when they looked human.

Waitresses had already brought the food and as Sai and I helped ourselves, I asked him again.

"What are you?"

Shooting me an amused glance, he said, "I'm a vampire."

"A full-blooded one?"

"Yes."

I sighed. "Then-"

"I drank from a witch once and she transferred some of her powers into me."

I gaped. "Seriously?"

He nodded.

"Can you do that with whoever-"

"No," he said, suddenly serious. "Only really powerful monsters can give away power. And she transferred them willingly."

"Why?"

"So many questions," Sai said a suddenly. "How about we move onto another topic?"

I nodded, feeling bad for having pestered him about it. "Sorry."

Sai sighed and then gave me a small smile. "It's okay."

"I didn't mean to offend you. I was just-"

"Curious?" he whispered.

"Yeah..."

"And I'm curious about what you taste like," he said, eyeing my neck.

I put a hand protectively over it. "What is it with vampires and my blood?"

"It's not just vampires," Sai laughed, backing away.

When I raised an eyebrow at that, he chuckled.

"You have amazingly selective amnesia, don't you?"

"Why?"

"Pein, the demon who sucked your blood? Yeah, him. You also may not have noticed it but a lot of other dark monsters have a thing for your blood."

"Why?"

"You ask '_why_' a lot," he groaned. "And it's because your blood smells delicious."

"I'm flattered," I muttered.

He nodded and dug into his rare steak. I took that as my cue to start demolishing my own meal.

**(I am a vampire page break. I suck. And swallow)**

Sai walked me to my next class, seeing as how we monsters at Emires had all kind of stayed on our rooftop restaurant setting longer than we should have.

Even though I'd been with the people from the other years, I was no closer to knowing what happened on weekends than I was _before_ lunch.

They all just smirked or ruffled my hair or something.

There were some who even pretended I hadn't said anything.

I had obviously missed the other first years as Sasori had already taken them to our next class.

Sai walked me there, twirling his wand and occasionally taking a sip from his bottle.

"So what kind of blood do you drink?"

He glanced at me as we entered Trident. "Animal blood, usually sheep. Tastes like grass and dirt, not appealing I assure you."

"Why not switch to something else?"

He shrugged. "What does your friend drink?"

"Fake blood mostly," I said, remembering Gaara's blood-flavoured 'juice'.

"The human flavoured one?"  
"Yeah, I think so."

Sai grimaced. "Must be hard for him to be around you then."

I remembered Gaara's eyes, fully gold and undeniably hungry as he tried to walk away from me.

"Yeah, it is."

Sai ruffled my hair as we finally stopped at the large doors. "He's a good friend, then."

With that, he walked away and I entered class.

Orochimaru was already into his lecture and after waving for me to sit down, I took a seat by Lee and Shino. All my friends were seated at the back and they waved at

me, with Kiba and Gaara smirking at the fact that I was stuck sitting right in front of Orochimaru.

I gave them both the finger, being sure Orochimaru didn't see me.

With everything Kotetsu had said about elements, there was quite the air of expectation in the class.

"At the core of every element is magic. Untamed, unseen, unnoticed.

This being said, magic is _everywhere_. Those with the base level of chakra are the only ones capable of using them. This limit is called the 'monster line'. Anyone above it

are monsters, below are the normal humans.

At the centre of elemental control is a spell.

Spell casting is required to do any spells, especially spells involving the elements.

That is why spell casting is covered under elements 101," Orochimaru said proudly. "What you need to do spells is simple.

Magic, intent and power.

We all have the magic. What differs is the intent and the power, chakra.

Instantaneous magic is magic that is performed with immediacy. The thought, intent and magic occur almost simultaneously. Wizards, witches and warlocks are the only

monsters capable of this. Can anyone tell me why?"

I heard Sakura's voice call out, "Thousands of years of practice."

Orochimaru chuckled. "That is what they'd like us to believe. In truth, they have an innate rapid chakra pulsing.

Chakra pulsing is the feel of your chakra whenever you do magic. It can come from accidentally levitating things, from sudden extreme emotions and from kerning, to

mention a few.

These pulses are always small and very rarely are they felt, even by the caster. However, over the millennia, there have been several reports of pulses felt by others or

even large masses of people. The last one was felt seventeen years ago when a Lorian was born."

Orochimaru's eyes rested on me for a moment before he continued. "The pulse was said to have been from the child's parents at the joy of having their son. Being

powerful monsters themselves, this was not exactly impossible but it _was_ unexpected. Before that, only a few had been noticed and recorded in the books of the Mage

council.

So, innate magic and fast pulsing chakra speed means witches, warlocks and wizards can perform instantaneous magic.

Other monsters can perform magic as well, just not as fast as most witches seeing as how they use gestures, hands and thoughts.

Thoughts are usually the slowest, having no gesture to concentrate on intent.

Witches use wands to prevent their magic from being too destructive or from using too much chakra.

Because of the speed and intent, they could easily miscalculate or even get distracted and injure themselves or others. Wands were created to control and protect in

their use. Witches were also the most radical magic users and tended to be accident prone before the invention of wands.

Other monsters however, are slower but not by much. While they may certainly lose a spell battle against a witch, they can still increase the speed of their casting and

even surpass witches, although this theory has not been proved.

If tied up however, _all_ monsteres tend to be somewhat useless...although it would be just for a few seconds.

Because of this, I will encourage everyone here to try use magic without a tool. You never know when you might be chained to a wall by a lunatic," he muttered.

When he was done, we were dismissed and before I could be properly relieved, Sasori came and announced, "All first years are to report to the library for a study

period."

"Why?" Kiba asked, obviously afraid of the very real danger that was paper cuts.

"Because I said so," Sasori said with a grim smile.

We trudged our way through the grass to the library tower, mumbling and swearing underneath our breath.

Inside the library, Sasori pulled me aside and had me sit with him.

"This feels like a conspiracy," I said, glaring openly at him.

"You're paranoid," he replied. "Completely right, of course. But still paranoid."

I sighed, ready to sleep my way through the damn period.

Sasori nudged me with his wand and gave me a book.

I looked at it and immediately, my interest was piqued.

It was titled **'Werewolves of Konoha'**.

Ignoring Sasori's smug grin, I immediately started reading. It started with explaining wolves' characteristics and other boring notes but I soon got lost in the text.

'..._Werewolves__ in Konoha are different from those living in the human world.  
_

_In the human world, werewolves transform every full moon and tend to be vicious uncontrollable bloodthirsty beasts no greater than hungry vampires. They return to their _

_normal forms once the sun is up.  
_

_In Konoha however; Io, Lars and Xi are the three moons responsible for transformations and all three must be full for a werewolf to transform. Of course, this does not apply to _

_wolves that suffer from Moonrush.  
_

_'Moon rush' is the term used to describe a condition of uncontrollable violent urges and sometimes, incomplete transformations that some werewolves undergo. This is not _

_common as only two out of every thousand werewolves suffer from it.  
_

_Moon rush happens when only one or two moons are full.  
_

_For the werewolf community to transform as a whole, all three moons must be full.  
_

_this does not apply to Phasors but as per tradition, phasors join the rest of the werewolves during transformations.  
_

_When all moons are full, the wolves typically celebrate by acting like children; running around in forests, urinating on trees and being general nuisances to woodland creatures.  
_

_Most wolf packs meet with others in secluded forests to celebrate their transformations until sunrise after which they all return to their own lives.  
_

_In universities like Konoha, Suna and Mira, where students are not allowed to leave, large areas are given for such gatherings.  
_

_Transformations occurring during the full moon are perfectly safe as the wolves remain sentient and in control of their actions. In addition to this, while they hunt as is their _

_instinct to, they do not kill humans or other monsters but deer or any other un-sentient animals.'  
_

I blinked at that.

I recalled that my dad and grandfather often left during the full moon back in the human world and my mom would grumble about being left behind like a geek for a cool

party.

I tore a part of my notebook and left it as a bookmark while I skimmed through, looking for something about my current situation.

I hadn't noticed any other Kerners, obviously, but that didn't mean there were no betrothed wolves already at the university.

I knew I couldn't tell what a monster was unless they had some pretty obvious features or unless they showed me but I was curious as to how other wolves could be

here, be betrothed and not kill their mate.

The instinct to kill was there for them as well...wasn't it?

I found the chapter heading _'Betrothals'_ and read through it hurriedly, rushing to a part I thought would actually be helpful and not just informative.

_'...Werewolves hate their betrothed because of the fact that they are their equals. Their nature is typically one of dominance, with key roles taken as they are.  
_

_Though there is no discrimination and even women may be alphas, strength is a deciding factor.  
_

_Werewolves get over their hatred for their betrothed in two ways, gradually or in an instant (as are the only options really, unless they just kill them).  
_

_Friendships may grow where the hatred is forgotten or a major event may occur, causing a change of heart.  
_

_One such event was a witches' spell cast on a betrothed in 1435. The witches council, tired of the neighbours- two quarrelling wolves, removed the hate and replaced it with _

_devotion.  
_

_However, when the spell wore off, the couple immediately killed each other.'  
_

I snorted. Real romantic..._  
_

_'*Betrothed wolves are equal. this is true in every aspect. However, this fact may be doubted because of the murder of one by the other but every managed kill in the first five _

_minutes is opportunistic, not a matter of skill or superiority.  
_

_Most families separate betrothed couples by sending them away for a few years. If the betrothed are students, for example, one may transfer to another school until the _

_instinct lessens or dies off completely without the fodder of constantly being around each other.'  
_

Why the hell this wasn't done for me, I had no idea.

_'*However, if forced to be together, respect and friendship may grow, overcoming the hatred but __still__ maintaining the underlying need to kill their partner.  
_

_The causes of this friendship or respect may vary. For example, one may have a child and not want to affect the child with violence.  
_

_When this, a truce of sorts, is acknowledged, both parties undergo a feeling of euphoria, like a drug-induced high, which is their magic marked seal reacting to the verbal, written _

_or accepted agreement. This event, called "__Ascension__" happens to the majority of wolf betrothed and marks the beginning of-'  
_

"-to go?"

I blinked up at Sasori. "Sorry, what?"

"I was asking if you're ready to go,"

I stared at a clock on the wall. An hour had already passed?

I smiled. "Uh yeah, may I borrow this book?"

He nodded. "Just check it out with the librarian."

He pointed at the librarian and I walked up to the stern-looking old woman. The name tag on her sweater read 'Miss Chiyo'.

I sighed and whispered, "Good afternoon, I'd like to borrow this book."

She eyed me for a moment before nodding briskly, giving me a card and stamping the book.

"Have it back by next Friday."

I nodded and she gave me another nod before pointedly staring at the door as if telling me to scram.

I walked away with my apparently new library card and found Sasori blocking the door to the outside.

The first years were all waiting impatiently and Sasori chuckled when I moved forward. Beside him, Tsunade was standing and watching us all with irritation.

"Honestly, they act like they've never had a Friday before," she mumbled to herself.

Finally, she called for all of us to shut the hell up.

"When these doors open, so does your weekend. I trust you will greatly enjoy yourselves and will not do anything that *will get you expelled after I turn you into a

toad. Remember, the _weekend_ is strictly Friday and Saturday. If any of you monsters even _try_ to be hooligans on Sunday, I will drown you in the lakes."

We gulped and backed away as she turned and opened the doors with a flourish.

We slowly walked outside and froze, all of us in awe of what was going on around us.

I could feel the excitement of everyone around me, even as Kiba and Gaara made their way forward to stand by me.

It was difficult to explain what was happening cause it looked like...everything...was happening.

Not too far from where we were standing, a couple of fairies were apparently giving in to their innate evil and must have been putting people under illusions cause the

guy they were laughing at was professing his undying love to Gai who was looking pleased that someone loved him.

I heard Sakura snort behind me and mutter, "Tch, amateurs."

I supposed witches looked down on fairies as well.

A few of the third years were by the lakes, making it snow.

I spotted Sai there. Him and some warlocks were waving their wands at the air over by the lakes.

The clouds they were producing were small and just at the height of tall trees but they were letting snow flakes fall down onto the students below who were having a

snowball battle. Others were skating on the frozen surface of the lake.

Sai looked at me and my eyes widened.

His lips were dark red and then I saw the glass in his free hand.

He raised it in a toast to me, looking like his eyes were zoning in on my neck and I turned away quickly, looking at Gaara- the safe vampire, who was drinking his juice

through a straw and..._also_ staring at my neck.

"_Honestly_," I muttered, shoving passed him and walking to Sakura and Hinata who I was sure didn't want my blood.

The blond I'd seen with Sasuke was arguing with the walking shark and apparently fighting with fire and water. The shark-guy was winning if the drenched blond was

anything to go by.

Flying monsters were in the air, swooping and trying to catch each other and I saw a couple of witches on broomsticks, sending suspicious looking sparks from their

wands at each other as they flew.

It was beautiful.

I looked up in the sky when I heard a roar and saw some dragons made from fire, being controlled by students I assumed were fifth years and there was some girl

riding on ice like the fire guy in fantastic four does.

There was absolutely no order anywhere.

Everyone was doing what they wanted but they were obviously showing off.

"So...what do you think?" Sasori asked, nudging me with his elbow.

I laughed, shaking my head. Some guys were forming large waves on the lakes while others were surfing on them.

"Snowball fights, fire dragons, _flying_..." I said in awe. "It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah," he grinned. "Tsunade introduced it when she started here as Dean. A few hours of the day when students can use their magic and powers without

restrictions."

I blinked. "What? Just a few hours?"

He nodded. "No worries. Saturdays are way more fun."

"What do you do on Saturdays?"

"You'll have to wait and see."

"I hate you."

He snorted and waved at the third years. "Wanna join the snowball fight?"

It was like the first years were suddenly snapped out of whatever spell they were under. We all ran for something we saw that we figured was interesting.

Me, Kiba and Gaara ran for the third years who were having the snowball fight and challenged their asses to a battle against us first years.

They pulverised us, using magic and obviously cheating, but it was fun.

They somehow made a large snowman chase us around and we had to admit defeat when the snowman sat on Kiba and refused to get off.

"Why aren't you using magic?" Sai asked, mocking us.

Tch, like we had any time to concentrate on magic or even make snowballs. We were outnumbered and outmagicked.

The three of us were covered in snow and breathless from all our running so it was sort of strange to see girls lying down by the lakes a short distance from us, getting

tanned from some fireballs floating above their heads.

Hinata was having a _man_-_on_-_man_ fight with a faun and Sakura was surfing.

"I love it here!" Kiba shouted, riding a horse made of mud.

I couldn't help but agree before going off with Gaara to where the demons were making horrifying illusions and scaring students.

When the sun set, someone made pillars of fire all around us, giving us light.

I stared at them. "This is amazing."

Gaara hummed in agreement and tugged me forward.

"Where are we-"

"Dinner," he cut me off.

That was when I saw tables set with food like a buffet.

"I say we never graduate and stay here forever," Kiba said, walking up to us from where he'd been exploring tunnels made by some aries.

"That won't be so hard for you," Sakura smirked as she walked passed us.

Gaara snickered while I tried hard not to smile.

I saw Sai and Sasori still by the lakes, both of them yelling at someone I couldn't see clearly.

I was about to walk there when I bumped into someone.

I froze.

Sasuke.

He looked at me, undeniably irritated by my very presence.

The people around us stopped whatever they were doing and stared at us.

I was fully prepared to kick his ass if I had to but then instead of kerning, punching me or doing anything particularly bastard-like, he simply sighed and mumbled,

"Watch it." before walking away and continuing his conversation with his friends.

That _bastard_.

How dare he!

I was just as shocked as everyone else and very, _very_ confused.

What the hell had just happened?

"Did you _want_ to fight again?" Gaara asked, watching my expression.

I shook my head. "No...not really."

He shrugged and we went to get our food.

Sasuke was alittle ahead of us and it occurred to me that I had no idea if we were meeting with Mizuki again.

No doubt the sadist would want us in his cold lecture hall, grudgingly freezing our asses off inside when we could we could willingly freeze them off outside while having

fun.

Steeling myself, I walked to him and tapped his shoulder.

He turned, dark eyes boring into mine and pale skin looking orange from the fire pillar light.

An eyebrow was raised in question and I took in a deep breath.

"Mizuki...are we still seeing him tonight?"

The Uchiha grimaced, "No. That asshole can listen to the sound of his own voice for a few hours."

"Somehow I think he'll make us suffer for ditching," I said with a thoughtful frown.

People were watching us, I knew, but at the moment, Mizuki seemed to be my biggest issue.

"Scared?" Sasuke smirked. "We can take him."

I snorted, ignoring his jab. "And then we can get expelled."

"If he's in excruciating pain, it will have been worth it."

I almost smiled at that, completely in agreement. It took a full second before I realized we were having a semi-civil conversation. Sure we were kinda talking about

assaulting and/or murdering a lecturer but still...

I could still feel the instinct to kill him but I was also still on a high from all the fun I'd just had with my friends and was feeling so alive from all the magic that was

potent in the air that for now...

For now, Sasuke could live.

I'd kill him later.

**(I am a werewolf page break. woof)**

Morning was peaceful and calm and-

"WAKE UP!"

I fell off my bed and stayed on the ground, silently promising bloody murder to the fool who had just-

"Morning Naruto."

I groaned.

"Why the fuck are you in my room? I thought I never had to see you again."

Itachi chuckled warmly and waved his hand in the air as if clearing off everything I'd just said.

"Get dressed. The war's about to begin."

I climbed back onto my bed and-

"WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU UP?"

I shot a glare at Sai who was now standing by Itachi.

They looked silly, standing side by side like that, Itachi with a bottle of alcohol, Sai with a bottle of blood... maybe together they could make a bloody mary.

An alarm rang, not like the dragons but like the type of alarm one would hear at summer camp. Loud and undeniably annoying.

"Monsters! You have fifteen minutes to get to the lakes and huddle up according to species. The Battle is about to begin," I heard Tsunade announce.

I blinked at the two in front of me and sighed, getting up and hurriedly changing.

As I brushed my teeth, Itachi yelled, "There's no time for a quick wank, get out here!"

I gritted my teeth and spat before walking out, ready to kill itachi.

Him and Sai led the way, running down the stairs three at a time like they were children.

As we approached the lakes, I saw all the years gathered there already, chatting away excitedly.

"What's going on?" I asked Sai.

He grinned but didn't answer.

Asshole.

"Group up now!" Tsunade shouted, her voice easily carrying over to the rest of us.

I saw Sasuke and that lazy guy who was always sleeping, sitting by the water, with his other friends standing by him.

The girl with the buns in her hair, Tenten or something left them and went to stand off all by herself.

She suddenly phased and then, a moment later, a couple of people from the crowd followed her and stood behind her. Werewolves, I supposed. Non-phasors.

Sai winked at me and ran off to stand away from everyone. I swallowed loudly as large dark wings erupted from his back. He opened his mouth, displaying fangs and

Gaara walked towards him, waving at me. Three others followed as well and I had to assume that either there were only five vampires at the university or the rest

weren't interested in whatever was going on.

One of the vampires had slicked back white hair and the next was the kind you'd expect to find on billboards. Girls were screaming but I could only assume it was

because girls generally tend to _like_ vampires.

Maybe being bloodthirsty killers is sexy...

It went on like that for a couple of minutes. A student would display what type of monster they were and the others would join them.

Beside me, someone pushed me toward the wolves. I didn't even have to turn to know it was Itachi. I sighed and went.

Someone on a broomstick waved a wand in the air and dozens of students followed, including Sakura.

I stood by the wolves, waiting.

They were talking excitedly and one nudged me, "Namikaze right?"

I nodded.

He grinned and yelled to the others. "We have the kerner!"

They cheered and all started talking to me at once.

Hinata and Neji, the only angels at the school were both sitting it out. The vampires, all five of them, were participating and Sasuke was still sitting away from us. I

assumed that meant he wasn't joining us.

It was probably for the best.

I seriously doubted we would be civil _today_.

Another alarm filled the air and I stared at my hands that had previously been free.

A large crossbow lay in my hand and I started. The other wolves each had one, too. As did the other monsters.

Oh boy.

Tsunade stepped forward.

"We will soon begin our weekly war between monsters. For the first years, this is meant to be fun so don't wet yourselves. Anyone who gets shot will fall asleep after

five minutes so if you're going down, take as many as you can with you.

You will all be allowed ten minutes into the forest and when you hear the bell, start the battle. Last monster standing gets to choose their victory!"

She wave her wand at us and we all got were suddenly wearing coloured shirts. Wolves wore green. Vampires wore red. Witches and warlocks had been separated

but I had no idea why. Witches wore White and warlocks were in yellow. Demons had black shirts and the animagi were some bright shade of pink. I could hear Kiba

complaining from where I was.

"Go!" Tsunade yelled. "And remember, no magic!"

Everyone ran for the forest and I followed. I noticed the girl, Tenten, was now in her human form and when I looked at the vampires, Sai's wings had retracted and

were gone. It was like we were all humans and...were hunting each other.

**(I am a pampered page break. Wash my undies)**

The witches won.

I should have been surprised, really, but I wasn't.

I was actually pretty sure that they _had_ in fact, cheated.

Sakura still looked smug.

She'd been the one to shoot me and even though the arrow in my ass had stung like nothing else, I shot her, aiming for her heart. She'd deserved it, the backstabber.

Gaara and the other vampires hadn't lasted long. They'd charged in with their tranquilliser-tipped arrows shooting everything that moved (including branches swaying

in the wind) and had been taken out by everyone else.

The animagi males had been distracted by a girl with large breasts who'd gotten her shirt caught on a branch. while they watched her, they were shot mercilessly by

their own girls.

Needless to say, somehow, no matter how improbable, the witches won.

Their victory was our punishment:

Every one of us losers who'd been in the game was wearing frilly princess dresses.

I sighed.

And even though I was greatly embarrassed, It was fun because...well, I wasn't the only one looking like an idiot.

After we had been brought back to consciousness, Tsunade had announced the winner and said they should deliberate to choose their victory.

When I had asked Sai what that meant, he'd frowned and said, "Something dreadfully embarrassing. For all of us."

I hadn't believed him, thinking he was just being dramatic but Sakura's face when the witches were done huddling and giggling, was proof of his words,.

Tsunade had called all participants forward, tying up those who tried to escape, and had said the spell that had us all looking like we were in the worst school play

ever.

"This is Sakura's doing," Kiba grumbled, drinking heavily from his glass. "I just know it."

All around the lakes, blankets with picnic baskets were placed and Tsunade encouraged us to eat and go take showers before bed.

The battle had lasted all day and even though I was unconscious for most of it, it had been cool.

It was fun, talking with anyone and everyone, seeing people rendering the story...

I felt eyes on mine and turned.

I saw Sasuke looking amused at my frilly, fluffy dress and choking back laughter.

I gave him the finger and turned away.

Kerning would ruin my dress.

I turned back to Hinata and Sakura who were also enjoying the punishment.

"Why does this feel like a victory for the _girls_ instead of the witches?" Sasori asked, sighing as he sat by me.

"Because it is," Sai stated drily, twirling his wand again.

"Still, it's better than the thong victory the demons had last year," Sai muttered.

Sasori winced. "Yeah, much better."

I snorted and Kiba rolled off the blanket. "They made you wear _thongs_?"

"They aren't called demons for nothing," Sasori grumbled.

"Why not just sit the battles out?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose."

"It's amusing to see Gaara _still_ trying to get some while looking like a poorly dressed transvestite," Kiba choked out.

I smiled. "Knowing him, he'll still manage to make it work."

"So can we do this again tomorrow?" Kiba asked Sasori.

Sasori snorted. "No way. Studying tomorrow. And tutoring," he turned to me. "Meet me in the library at nine."

I groaned. "_Seriously_?"

"We can't go around shooting arrows at people all willy-nilly every day."

"Aw, why not?" Kiba whined.

Sasori just laughed and got up before he walked back to his friends. "See you tomorrow."

Sai lay down on the blanket. "You know, the corsets hurt like a bitch but these dresses aren't so bad."

"Yours has a corset?" I asked, surprised.

He looked at me. "Yours doesn't?"

I shook my head.

He glared off at Tsunade who was having a drinking contest with Itachi. "I'm going to _kill_ her."

Kiba and I chuckled as Sai stalked off angrily to confront the Dean.

Sakura raised her glass in a toast to us and we made faces at her before lying back down and watching the sky.

ss-sss-ssss-

**A**/**N****: as you can see, I love shooting things. It's becoming a thing in my fics XD  
**

**Also, I watched Van Helsing (yes I know, it's a lot of years too late... when was it out, 2004? Whatever) and the part where Anna is dead and appears in the **

**clouds is a total rip-off of lion king. I told my sister, "Just watch, she'll have a deep voice and tell him to *Remember... Or sing circle of life."  
**

**she did.  
**

**boo-yah.  
**

**And different people want different things, I get that... so here's a few things you should know:  
**

**-This is a sasunaru fic so they will fall in love eventually.  
**

**-As cute as Gaara and Naruto are together, please refer to the above point.  
**

**-This isn't based off Hogwarts, no matter how much it seems that way. If it looks like I'm ripping Harry potter off, let me know and I will discontinue the fic. The **

**things is, it's a magic university and with the many common themes of both magic and monsters the world over, I suspect there will definitely be similarities, **

**especially with how much I LOVE harry potter XD But you don't have to worry, I'm not (knowingly) stealing from Hogwarts.  
**

**-Semesters for the university will be like my semesters here so if it's cold in June in the story and not wherever it is that you live, well, know that it's always **

**cold in June over here (our winter).  
**

**Also: Sasuke and Naruto interaction in the next chapter. I'd have added it here but as we all know, I sometimes can't be assed to do more (which doesn't **

**necessarily mean I'm an ass)... Maybe I should go from "Rizember" to "That Lazy Author".  
**

**That's all for now :)  
**

**ss-sss-ssss-  
**

**For a picture of Naruto licking sauce off Sasuke, press 1  
**

**For a picture of Sasuke doing "the wiggle", press 2  
**

**For world domination and the rights to doujinshi everywhere, press 3**

**For 'You bastard, the buttons haven't been fixed yet!' click the review button below and leave a message. **


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